By Salisu Sani-Idris
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administrattion will sustain the tempo of its support programmes towards enhancing food security in the territory.
The Mandate Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Malam Abubakar Ibrahim, gave the assurance in a statement by the Deputy Director, Information , Mr Zakari Aliyu, in Abuja.
Abubakar was reacting to the October 2022 cycle of Cadre Harmonise (CH) Food and Nutrition Security analysis report which indicated a significant reduction of over 30 per cent in the population of food insecure households from about 349,876 in October 2021 to 233,233 as at November 2022.
He attributed the achievement to the programmes of the Agriculture and Rural Development supported passionately by the Minister of State FCT, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, who has ensured that the progrmmes are tailored in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda of revitalising the Agricultural sector.
” We will not be carried away by the encouraging report, and I want to assure you that under the able guidance of the the FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello and Dr Aliyu, the secretariat will redouble its efforts to deliver on its mandate of repositioning the agricultural sector.
“As you are aware, a lot is happening in the livestock sector as well as crop production. We have concluded plans to roll out massive support to boost dry season farming.
” While efforts that we are making to open up the agricultural landscape and attract complimentary support of the private sector and donor agencies will be sustained.
” We will equally be giving greater attention to the issues of minimising post harvest losses due to poor storage technologies, environmental factors as well as pest infestation”
He said that the programmes of the secretariat would be geared towards enhancing the performance of the food sector, make agriculture a viable venture for poverty reduction and wealth creation.
Ibrahim said the secretariat worked tirelessly to change the mindset of farmers to take agriculture more as a business.
Also, Coordinator, FCT CH, Dr Omole Olateju, said the report was not only objective but verifiable as it contains details of the population and locations of the households.
Olateju, is the Deputy Director Rural Economy and Finance, who represented the secretariat at the meeting.
He disclosed that the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS) of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Food Programme and other technical Partners conducted a biannual food Security situation analysis in 26 states and FCT by adopting professional criteria to assess the progress made by states.
He said the report revealed that as at November 2022, the number of food insecure households stands at about 233,233 as against the October 2021 report of over 349,876, an improvement of over 33 per cent.
Olateju, who explained that the process of analysis was a consensual, rigorous and transparent one, noted that the overall objective of the exercise was to provide a guide for government in planning interventions for communities and households that require immediate humanitarian assistance. (NAN)
