Food Crisis: Atiku Wants Buhari To Set Up Military Task Force To Protect Farmers

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has recommended the setting up of what he called “Food Security Military Taskforce” that would be saddled with the protection of farming clusters across the country.

This, according to Atiku, would encourage farmers who have deserted their farmlands to return to work and feed the nation.

The former vice president gave the advice against the backdrop of a warning by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – Global Environment Facility (GEF) that people living in northern Nigeria risked acute food insecurity.

The UNDP stated that a report by its agency, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), projected that 13 million northern residents may face acute food insecurity in the next few months.

Reacting in a Facebook post on Friday, Atiku urged the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to not take the warning with levity.

He said the warning, “should be seen and heard as a whistleblowing moment that ought to draw the focus of the Federal Government, being that Northern Nigeria is the food basket of the nation, and any famine there will have a national impact on the rest of the country and cross border impacts in the West African sub-region.”

Atiku noted that Food security was a vital part of national security, warning that failure to address the issue could result in adverse effect for Nigeria and its neighbours.

He also noted that insecurity was the major cause of the country’s looming food scarcity because “farmers and other agricultural value chain workers cannot go to their farms.”

Atiku advised the Federal and State Governments to, “establish a Food Security Military Taskforce to work in farming clusters, to provide security for the nation’s farmers. We must give confidence to our agriculture workers, so that the sector can get on with the job of feeding the nation.

“In addition to this, the Federal and State governments ought to place a temporary moratorium on all loans to the agricultural sector in the affected states, by declaring a Force Majeure in the sector. We cannot expect small, medium and large-scale farmers to service debts when they are not even able to access their farms and other businesses in the agricultural value chain.

“Thirdly, the Federal Government has to intervene by providing free seedlings and fertilisers to the end users. This is a policy that worked to reduce hunger levels in Nigeria when Dr Akinwumi Adesina introduced the e-wallet policy. Perhaps it is time to reintroduce and ramp up that scheme,” he added.