Why Nigeria is having inflation of food prices – Agric Minister 

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, has given reasons Nigeria is having inflation of food prices in Nigeria.

Dr. Abubakar gave these reasons in Abuja during a national workshop on the applications of Juncao technology and its contribution to the achievement of sustainable agriculture and Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs in Nigeria.

He stated that the rise in food prices was not peculiar to Nigeria but a global issue occasioned mainly by climate change.

The Minister who was represented by the Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Abdullahi Abubakar, explained that climate change had impacted negatively on agricultural production and was likely to pose grave threats to food security in the future.

He said, “Food may become more expensive as climate change mitigation efforts increase energy prices.

“Water required for food production may become more scarce due to increased crop water use and drought. Competition for land may increase as certain areas become climatically unsuitable for production.

“In addition, extreme weather events, associated with climate change may cause sudden reductions in agricultural productivity, leading to rapid price increases.

“These rising prices may force growing numbers of local people into poverty, providing a sobering demonstration of how the influence of climate change can result in food insecurity.”

He acknowledged the Juncao technology for having the potential to boost the government’s efforts in making the best use of huge agricultural resources towards sustainable livelihood as enshrined in the SDGs’ charter.

The workshop was organised by the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), was supported by the National Engineering Research Center for Juncao Technology of the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU) of China and Nigeria’s ministry of agriculture.