President Muhammadu Buhari has asked farmers across Nigeria to embark on immediate planting towards mitigating post-Coronavirus food crisis.
The President said the decision is coming on the heels of full consultation with the State Governors.
The Nigerian leader made the call during his 3rd national broadcast on COVID-19.
While Kano State has been locked down for two weeks to checkmate the spread of Coronavirus in the state, the new directive for farmers has finally put to rest the issue of restrictions on their movement, even as the lockdown in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos, and Ogun States has been extended till May 4.
President Buhari said, “We reviewed how our farmers can safely plant and harvest in this rainy season to ensure our food security is not compromised. Furthermore, we also discussed how to safely transport food items from rural production areas to industrial processing zones and ultimately to key consumption centres.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, over the weekend, inaugurated a 7-member Task Force Team that would make the movement of food products flow easily during the Coronavirus period. The team is also asked to facilitate farmers movement to their farms for increased food production.
Nanono said the decision was a presidential directive to avert food crisis during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minister was specific that without farmers going back to work, the 2020 farming season would suffer and that will in turn impact negatively on Nigeria and its economy.
