‘Nigerians Needs To Prioritise Soil Health To Fight Food Insecurity’

The minister of state for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Aliyu Sabi, has disclosed that the nation needs to prioritise her soil health, saying it is very crucial in the agricultural sector.

He attributed insecurity, climate change and land degradation to causes of food inflation in the country and called on governments at all levels to provide lasting solutions to the challenges to reduce food prices across the country.

Speaking at a sensitisation and validation workshop tagged, “Introduction of Soil Health Card to Nigeria Agriculture System,” organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, in Ibadan, Oyo State, the minister lamented how land degradation had posed critical environmental challenges that impacted all ecological zones within the country.

He noted that land degradation was driven by human activities, including agricultural practices, pastoralism, deforestation, and natural processes, leading to reduced food production, food insecurity, drought, flooding and erosion.

According to him, overcoming food insecurity requires coordinated efforts from stakeholders, including government, private sector, farmers’ associations and development partners.

He emphasised that enhancing soil health was vital for improving the livelihood of Nigerians and achieving sustainable development.

He said the workshop was designed to deepen farmers’ knowledge and explore regulatory and implementation frameworks, identify existing gaps, and outline a path forward to increase food production in the country.

Director of Agriculture and Climate Change Management Services, Bello Mohammed, stressed that healthy soil leads to increased food production and food security.

Representative of national president of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Tobias Iwuh, highlighted insecurity as a major challenge and urged the federal government to provide maximum security for farmers.

Iwuh also identified the hike in fuel prices as a contributor to food inflation and appealed for government intervention.

Also, the national president of Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), Hajia Fatima Bello, who was represented by the national officer, Prof Udeh Nkemdilim from Enugu State, emphasized that this would improve food production by guiding the participants on how to improve the soil fertility to boost up cultivation.