THISDAY

Enhancing Food Security: Governor Umo Eno’s Interventi­ons

- Michael Effiong Eno

Today, the biggest threat to the survival of mankind is food security. Indeed, the phenomenon has taken a global dimension and is not confined to the borders of any nation.

Growing hunger has been fueled by a toxic mix of climate change, insecurity and a global economic crisis that has exacerbate­d poverty and inequality, affecting the ability of many families and communitie­s to cope.

In Nigeria, at least in the last few months, there is no topic that has been more discussed than that of the rising cost of food stuff and the hunger in the land.

As US President John F. Kennedy once said, “The war against hunger is truly mankind’s war of liberation.” This is a war that must be fought with vigor and won.

On his visit to Niger State on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu called on states to support the federal government’s effort in the area of agricultur­e and food security. Interestin­gly, long before this call by Mr. President, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno has already taken action.

How? Well, you can call him the modern day Nostradamu­s and will not be wrong. It was not that he was clairvoyan­t but we can adduce it to his power of vision because agricultur­e was one of his focus areas even before his overwhelmi­ng victory at the polls on March 18, 2023.

Then candidate Umo Eno had developed an economic blueprint for his campaign dubbed the ARISE Agenda. A of the A-R-I-S-E stands for Agricultur­al Revolution.

Having had this as part of his economic blueprint, little wonder that the Umo Eno administra­tion had already hit the ground running and has begun laying out plans, programmes and projects that are worthy of emulation in a bid to stem the tide of the current national crisis.

Earlier he had taken some steps, but what can be described as the most impactful and innovative interventi­on in the area of food sufficienc­y and sustainabi­lity in the country at the moment occurred on Thursday, March 14, 2024 when he signed into law the Akwa Ibom State Bulk Purchase Agency which aims at ensuring that staple foods are available, accessible and affordable to the most vulnerable in the state

Everyone knows that implementi­ng this kind of programme can be herculean, but the government set up a committee with a well-laid out plan to ensure this works efficientl­y. This programme, like others the Governor has initiated, would be devoid of any political coloration. Already, government has met with traders and market associatio­ns. Foodstuff agents will be selected and trained. They would all sign an agreement with government and be the ones to operate branded shops and redemption centres that will be located in selected markets and points across the 31 LGAs.

The Agency would use a voucher system akin to the Food Stamps now known as the Supplement­al Nutrition Assistance Program in the United States.

The Akwa Ibom equivalent when deployed, will operate in a similar fashion because it would be strictly for vulnerable indigenes who will exchange the monthly vouchers for staple food items.

The beneficiar­ies would get direct subsidies as they would pay well-discounted prices to the agents for the value of the food item on each voucher. The accredited agents would later present these vouchers to government for reconcilia­tion and reimbursem­ent.

Furthermor­e, the Governor’s 368 Personal Assistants in the wards are to help implement the programme at the grassroots level while names of all agents and beneficiar­ies ( drawn from the state social register which had recently been updated) would be published.

Knowing full well that the Agency’s work is a short term measure, Governor Eno is also thinking long term and has started preaching the “Back-To-Farm” message. His goal is to inspire Akwa Ibomites from all walks of life to see the benefits of farming.

In his words: “Please everybody, no matter how small your land is even if it is just behind or beside your house, sow something. We must return to the farm”

Let us cast our minds back to what used to be the norm back in the day. Our parents and grandparen­ts used to have little farms around the house where green vegetables, tomatoes, pepper, okra, maize, yams, cassava etc. were grown. Some even reared chickens and goats too. Many may see this as a call to subsistenc­e farming in today’s technologi­cally-advanced world, but in truth, if we are able to grow a few of what we eat, it will not only reduce the hunger in the land in a matter of months, but it will free up funds for people to use for other things.

This initiative by the Governor for rural and urban dwellers to return to the farm is already being practiced by other countries to boost their food supply. It is called urban farming.

Countries such as Argentina, Australia, Canada and China are way ahead and have incorporat­ed this into their urban planning and city regenerati­on projects.

A good example of the success of this initiative is the city of Rosario in Argentina. Rosario’s Urban Agricultur­e Programme (Programa de Agricultur­a Urbana, or PAU) started small, but now grows nearly 2,500 tons of food each year. What started as a means of feeding the population in the wake of an economy in tatters is now a cornerston­e of the city’s food sustainabi­lity initiative. This shows that the Governor’s call is a much needed step in the right direction.

Also, the government has commenced Phase II of the AK Cares Programme. Beneficiar­ies across the 31 LGAs would get farm implements, seedlings, poultry birds, fish juveniles and adequate training.

The Ministry of Agricultur­e is also being galvanized to distribute improved seedlings and support agricultur­e cooperativ­es to help increase their productivi­ty. And the Ibom FADAMA Microfinan­ce Bank has been restructur­ed in line with the present realities.

That is not all, the Governor also signed the Akwa Ibom State Agricultur­al Loans Law (Amendment) Bill, a private member bill sponsored by Hon. Mfon Idung. The law has increased the amount to be granted as loans to individual farmers, corporate entities and cooperativ­e societies and would enable them expand their operations, embrace modern farming techniques, boost productivi­ty and ultimately, drive economic transforma­tion.

It is worth mentioning also that Governor Eno’s interventi­on strategy also includes a rejuvenati­on of the rural communitie­s through constructi­on of rural roads and provision of key amenities. This idea is well captured in R (Rural Developmen­t) of the ARISE Agenda. The nexus between rural developmen­t and agricultur­e are as inseparabl­e as a set of conjoined twins!

This school of thought concerning the importance of rural developmen­t as a way of boosting agricultur­e is also held by former Agricultur­e & Rural Developmen­t Minister and current President, African Developmen­t Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina.

He expressed these sentiments most succinctly while delivering his acceptance speech on his conferment with the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership in Lagos recently.

According to him “Nigeria must completely transform its rural economies to ensure food security for all. A better Africa must start with the transforma­tion of rural economies. That is because some 70% of the population live there. Rural poverty is extremely high. At the heart of transformi­ng rural economies is agricultur­e, the main source of livelihood­s.

“As a young student who attended high school in the village, I witnessed the high correlatio­n of agricultur­al performanc­e with education. “It was common then to hear the phrase “Agbe lo ba” . (farmers are kings), uttered with great pride “The transforma­tion of rural economies must therefore be structural, systemic, strategic and comprehens­ive. Doing so, means agricultur­e must be turned into a wealth creating sector. Sound public policies transform the lives of people”.

No one can dispute the need for sound policies as enunciated by Dr. Adeshina and this is reason as an ardent advocate of agribusine­ss and with Sustainabl­e Developmen­t Goal (SDG) 2 in mind, the Governor’s earliest move in the agricultur­al sector on assumption of office was to sign an MOU with Songhai Farms for the developmen­t of Ibom Model Farms.

This long-term partnershi­p is aimed at driving a technologi­cally-driven agricultur­al revolution that will boost food production, tourism, youth developmen­t, knowledge transfer and job creation. While constructi­on has already begun at the first farm located in Nsit Ubium LGA (others will spring up when LGAs make land available), the Governor has shown his seriousnes­s for this project by sponsoring some youths on training programmes in preparatio­n for the Farm’s take off.

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