The Chairman Senate Commitee on Agriculture, Senator Abdullahi Adamu (APC Nasarawa West), has attributed the cause of rising cost of food items to alleged unpatriotic hoarding habits of middle men.
Adamu who made the allegation in Abuja Sunday while fielding questions from journalists at his residence, also alleged that the state governors are frustrating efforts of the federal government on provision of cattle ranching .
He said, “Nigeria has been running a mono economy before President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in in 2015. He has taken serious interest in agriculture. He banned importation of some basic food items in order to encourage Nigerians farmers to produce.
“There are so much food items in the markets but unfortunately, middle men and women are going directly to the farmers to buy the products for the purpose of hoarding them and sell at exorbitant prices.
“The people are the cause of the current food scarcity we are experiencing in Nigeria. They have the products in large quantities in their various warehouses waiting for the prices to go up before selling them.
“There are so much production of food items in the country. Despite the setback occasioned by covid-19 last year, we are still able to produce enough food items for Nigerians.
“This year, we have a very good season. The speculators are in all the farms buying off harvests and taken them away for hoarding.
“The unfortunate situation will continue until Nigerians and the various tiers of government get up to fight in order to stop the nefarious activities of the middle men and women who are obviously anti-people.
“The N291.4bn voted for the agriculture sector in the 2022 federal budget is good enough and I am satisfied by it although we would prefer to get more if there is another opportunity to further review the budget during budget defence sessions”.
On the recurring cases of farmers-herders clashes in some parts of the country, the senator said the Federal Government is doing its best to resolve the issue and solicited the cooperation of every Nigerians to ensure that peace reign in all the affected areas.
He pointedly blamed the governors for lingering crisis by refusing to key into federal government ranching policy when it was first mooted .
“Some governors opposed the idea of ranching when it was first mooted by the Federal Government claiming that the lands belong to the states. It was later when the crisis escalated that they were asking the Federal Government to release the money to them so that they can create ranches.
“I am sure if the federal government should set up a fund for ranching today, all the governors would queue to collect their own share and I believe they would divert the money”, he said.
He acded that what amazes him is that people are placing the solution to the crisis on vacuum, on nothing without having a foundation.
“I believe very strongly that the herders have been living peacefully with farmers for decades. We should think of realistic and practicable solution to the crisis.
“There should be deliberate intervention on the side of government to assist the herders to carry out their trades without problems”, he stressed.
