An agriculture expert, Alhaji Ahmed Inusa-Adamu, has warned against impending food scarcity in Nigeria as a result of low production of farm produce.
Inusa-Adamu has also advised the the Federal Government to take proactive measures and ensure that farmers get fertilisers and other farm inputs on time to forestall food scarcity.
Inusa-Adamu, who is also a lecturer at the Division of Agricultural Colleges, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria gave the warning on Saturday, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that the lack of international trade due to the COVID-19 pandemic had made it difficult for rural farmers to acquire fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and other farming inputs.
“Fertiliser is very important in farming and it is now very expensive selling for between N11, 000 and N12, 000; this will be hard for farmers to buy and it will lead to low production of food in the country.
“Though, most of our attentions have been shifted on how to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important for government to intervene in the agric sector by subsidising fertilisers, other agric inputs, also providing loans to farmers as soon as possible,” he said.
Inusa-Adamu said that government should also employ agricultural extension workers, who would teach farmers modern techniques of farming to attain maximum output.
According to him, Nigeria has limited agricultural extension workers compared to the number of farmers in the country.
He said that the employing more agric experts would go a long way in ensuring the success of the agriculture sector.
