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How to achieve food security, by Yobe official
From Njadvara Musa, Damaturu
FOR Nigeria to achieve food security, the Yobe State Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Baba Bukar Machinama, has called for the conservation of the environment, tackling of fundamental problems like poverty, pollution and unfriendly agricultural practices among farmers.
Machinama told journalists in Damaturu, the state capital at an event to mark the 24th World Food Day (WFD) that fundamental problems on the conservation of nature must be addressed before the country can achieve self-sufficiency in food production.
He said this year's theme of "Bio-diversity For Food Security" could only be relevant to Nigeria if farmers, fishermen and cattle rearers adapt to environmental changes.
The farmers, he stated, must be able to manage genetic diversity, which is the bedrock of agriculture and livestock husbandry.
Machinama said for many centuries, local farmers had relied on the selecting plants and animals that could meet their environmental conditions and food requirements.
This, he noted, enabled them to transfer the knowledge of bio-diversity from one generation to another.
Citing the production of crops and livestocks as examples, he said both farmers and breeders solely rely on "the genetic diversity of crops and livestocks to increase yields," while their activities respond to environmental change.
He therefore asserted that failure to address the fundamental problems of poverty, environmental degradation and unfriendly agricultural practices would elude the country in the next five to 10 years.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, in the ministry, Alhaji Gambomi Goni, Machinama said the state government's agricultural policies had been harmonised with the WFD theme for 2004.
He said the state government had procured and distributed 3,900 metric tonnes of fertiliser at N175.5 million to increase output for farmers.
The commissioner explained that of the total fertiliser, 3,900 metric tonnes were urea while NPK brand were 1,500 tonnes.
He noted that the inability of farmers to buy the fertiliser had forced the state government to subsidise the product by 35 per cent.
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