From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has boasted that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration has exceeded the expectations of Nigeria in the area of food security.
Kyari stated this when he hosted board chairmen of the research institutes and colleges of agriculture, yesterday in Abuja.
He said: “We are surely on the path to success. We are not yet where we want to be, but we are moving in that direction.
“What we have achieved in less than two years has never been achieved before, and I believe we are all aware as people from communities across the federation of the recent changes in food prices.”
The minister, however, charged the board chairmen to work with their respective agencies and colleges to develop climate-smart seeds to help boost food security.
He said: “I have every confidence in your ability to deliver. Some of you are in research institutes, and some are in colleges of agriculture.
“But what we have seen recently is a deterioration in research, especially in the development of quality seeds and sound agronomic practices.
“And we believe that with your leadership, you will bring the required discipline and expertise to ensure that research benefits our country.
“We are heavily challenged today in terms of food security. Climate change, for example, is a natural phenomenon that is here to stay. We can’t do much to stop it, but we can adapt.
“One way to adapt is to develop quality seed varieties, especially from some of the institutes where you will be heading seeds that are drought-resistant, heat-resistant, high-yielding, and with short gestation periods -because arable land is shrinking.
“By this, I mean the availability of farmland is reducing while the population continues to grow,” he noted.
On his part, leader of the Board Chairmen, Alphonsus, Ogar Eba, lauded President Bola Tinubu for giving them the opportunity to serve.
Eba, who is also Chairman of the Cross River State All Progressives Congress (APC), assured the president and the minister that they would deliver the Renewed Hope Transformative Agenda in their respective research institutes and colleges of agriculture.