An Agric Expert, Emmanuel Ogbonda, has called on the government at all levels and stakeholders to invest massively in food production within this farming period or face significant disease outbreaks and death due to hunger.
Ogbonda, who is the Supervising Executive Agric Trade Group, Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with our correspondent, lamented that if nothing meaningful is done towards Agric production in the next three months, the nation would be hit with a disastrous food crisis.
He urged the political leaders not to focus on winning elections only but to include agriculture farming into their electioneering programs to help cushion the negative effect of food shortage.
“The situation we found ourselves in is very alarming and requires an urgent solution; we will experience severe hunger this year if nothing is being done. From 2018 till date, farming has reduced due to insecurity, fertilizer increase, COVID-19 pandemic, amongst others.
“We are already suffering a food crisis in this nation foodstuffs are high in price. If we want to solve the food crisis from this January, massive input should be done in the farming sector; if not, in 2023, people will suffer hunger and start dying due to disease outbreaks caused by hunger”.
Ogbonda further called on the legislation to make good policies to improve agricultural production to boost the economy.
“If it is a country that knows what they are doing, Agric would have been part of their electioneering program, giving in the food scarcity situation we are in. The legislative should begin to make policies that will improve farming production in the country.
“There are no good policies to help agriculture; what our government and law maker’s talk about our policies and executive orders that will benefit them. This country should begin to sleep agriculture, wake agriculture, and talk agriculture.
“There are several ways agriculture will help improve the economy, but our government continue to pay poor attitude to what concerns life and Agric; they are only interested in looking for an avenue to amass wealth for themselves”.
He advised the government always to pay attention to metrological forecasts to avert crises and issues that may lead to food shortages in the future.
“Once any forecast is made government should take immediate action on it; just recently, people were killed, and properties worth billions were destroyed because of the government’s poor attitude. No more roads for farmers to transport their Agric produces, government treat issues that concern human life in this country is wicked”.
He urged citizens to vote wisely and use this 2023 election to vote out bad political leaders.
“Election is around the corner, and politicians are ready to a pathway with money; how much can that solve the problem of the masses? People should wake up and vote rightly, and the electorates should take the opportunity to ensure the right thing is done.
“Nigeria should come together and speak in one mind; people should begin to ask those clamouring for power vital questions. When people collectively make the right decision in electing leaders, the country will change”.
