The federal government has announced plans to establish a Commodity Board tasked with regulating food prices across the nation. Vice President Kashim Shettima revealed the initiative during a two-day high-level strategic meeting focused on climate change, food systems, and resource mobilization held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.
The Vice President outlined the board’s critical mandate, which includes the assessment and regulation of food prices and the management of a strategic food reserve. This reserve aims to stabilize the prices of essential grains and other vital food items, thereby counteracting the adverse effects of fluctuating market conditions. “Our solution to the potential food crisis encompasses immediate, medium, and long-term strategies,” Shettima explained.
Part of these strategies involves revitalizing the food supply through targeted interventions such as distributing fertilizers and grains to farmers and households. This effort is particularly aimed at mitigating the impact of subsidy removal. Additionally, the government plans to foster collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to promote efficient farmland irrigation, ensuring year-round food production.
Beyond price regulation, Vice President Shettima also emphasized the government’s dedication under the Tinubu administration to environmental sustainability. An ambitious plan to rehabilitate four million hectares (approximately 10 million acres) of degraded lands within Nigeria is underway, aligning with the nation’s commitment to the AFR100 Initiative—a pan-African, country-led effort to restore millions of hectares of deforested and degraded landscapes across Africa.
Addressing the critical issue of security, which has hampered agricultural productivity by preventing farmers from accessing their lands, Shettima assured the public of the government’s commitment to enhancing security measures. “We will engage our security architecture to protect the farms and the farmers,” he stated, ensuring that agricultural activities can resume safely and effectively. The activation of land banks, comprising 500,000 hectares of already mapped land, is also on the agenda to increase the availability of arable land for farming, thereby boosting food production and contributing to national food security.