It is no longer news that Nigeria is currently going through a very high level of inflation in all sectors of the economy including food supply.
According to statistics, at the February of this year , food inflation in the country has sky rocketed to 35.41% which has led to a serious food crises in the country. Some of the contributing factors to this problem is the floating of Naira by the current administration as well as closure of neighbouring borders which has limited food importation into the country.
In a bid to address this pressing issue, a Tech Startup in Lagos called Greenbles Agtech has on Tuesday implored the federal government to put in place a taskforce that will ensure the implementation of Zero Taxation on all food supplies. According to this organization, the taskforce should include state government and security agencies as well. The Agriculture Tech Startup also suggested a severe punishment as consequences for disobeying the order.
Speaking on this, the Chief Executive Officer and the co-founder of the tech for agriculture startup , Oladapo Kasumu stated that, the some the various policies of the present administration such as floating of Naira has led to some negative consequences.
He said “This has made our food cheaper for our neighbours to buy, we now have a situation in our hands, and middlemen in the agriculture value chain seek to make brisk money by selling our food supplies to our neighbours, hence robbing us of the already inadequate food supply due to poor harvest because of insecurity.
“The menace of banditry that has gone on unfettered in the last 10 years, has now come full cycle. Farmers in our food baskets in the North have virtually abandoned their farms due to the fear of being slaughtered or at best being heavily taxed by marauding bandits.
“The issue of farmer-herder conflict has been a recurring decimal all over the country, with no end in sight. This has greatly affected farm yield and outputs. Once again the last administration left this issue to fester unabated. The present government inherited a near comatose or non-existent response to this menace. But nine months down the line, they have not shown the level of vigour and seriousness needed to fight this cankerworm.”
He further added ” Most of our food supply is distributed using road transportation largely powered by petrol and diesel. A near 300 per cent increase in petrol prices in one fell swoop is bound to add to the cost of food supplies.”
The organization also advised that the Federal Government should invest largely in mechanised farming and to also provide farm settlements with the much needed infrastructures such as good roads electricity and so on in order to reduce harvest loss.