FG reforms boost food production, processing still a challenge — Kyari

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, says Nigeria has recorded increased food production under the President Bola Tinubu administration, but weak processing and distribution systems continue to limit the impact on consumer prices.

Kyari said farm-gate prices had fallen considerably as agricultural production improved, but the reduction had not been fully reflected in the prices paid by consumers because of gaps between production and the marketplace.

The minister spoke in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday while responding to concerns about the pace at which the government’s agricultural reforms were translating into cheaper food.

He said available data indicated that the administration’s interventions had helped reduce production costs, although agro-processing remained a major challenge.

“Even if you look at the NBS figures, you would see that agro-processing has not come down, but production has come down. Which means at the farm gate, prices have come down considerably,” Kyari said.

He added that the government had therefore shifted attention to other gaps within the agricultural value chain after making progress in boosting production.

“But we have tackled the production of food, and we have seen considerable success in that regard,” he said.

Kyari attributed Nigeria’s continued reliance on food imports to a combination of population growth, low agricultural productivity, limited access to farmland and the cost of inputs and production.