Buckle up on food production - Experts warn South governors

Stakeholders in agriculture and farmers in the South West, yesterday, allayed fears of food scarcity following the alleged stoppage of food supply to the region.
But they were quick to challenge state governments in the region to take full advantage of massive fertile land in South West for food production and stop paying lip service to the development of agric.

The Southwest Chairman of All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr Olusegun Dasaolu, said the stoppage of food supply to the South was a warning of what to expect in the future.

He said: “It is a warning sign. The signal therein is telling us that we need to buckle up as far as agricultural production is concerned. They blocked the supply, within two or three days, these products are not in the market. It should not be so. We have the land and other resources enough for us to produce in the Southwest. We need to restrategize. It is a good development that has taught us to buckle up.
“In the Southwest, we have the capacity to feed ourselves and export. If you move from Lagos to Ibadan, left and right, what you see are thick forests.

“We talk much on agriculture. We need to actually walk the talk by focusing more on agriculture because people that can’t feed themselves are slaves. So, much as we have all other resources, there is a need for our government and the private sector to strongly collaborate and see how we can harness the resources surrounding us so that there can be abundant food production in the Southwest. We have the capacity to produce and even export.”

Dr Olabode Badiru, a lecturer at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan (UI), Ibadan, said regional states could feed their citizens if they practised smart agriculture, using the right technologies.

He said: “We have some of the best researchers in the continent domiciled in the region. That is, we have the know-how. However, this potential won’t transform into food security overnight.”

He lamented that states lacked coherent policies on agriculture but just key into national policy half-heartedly.
“I’m not aware of any policy document on agriculture in Oyo State, for instance. Therefore, the question is: what direction is the government moving in terms of agriculture in Oyo State?”