
Following the alarm raised by President Muhammadu Buhari over the rising price of foodstuffs at a time the economy is mired in a slowdown occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic, a group, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), has appealed to the African Development Bank (AfDB) to support Nigeria to fully reinvigorate it’s seed system to achieve sustainable food system post COVID-19. AFAN National President, Kabir Ibrahim, made this known in an interview with New Telegraph yesterday.
He explained that a veritable seed system sprouting from a fully developed and supported early generation seed, foundation seed and certified seed production programmes, would unleash a realisable and markedly sustainable food system in the country if properly implemented in the country’s agricultural sector. According to Ibrahim, the AfDB led by Nigeria’s Dr. Adewunmi Adesina, a world-renowned agricultural economist can give the desired support Nigeria needed to fully reinvigorate its seed system, which will fully and sustainably impact its food system post COVID-19.
He said fears of food sufficiency in the country was worrisome for the President and stakeholders in the sector, saying that AfDB had a critical role to play in Nigerian’s seed system to guarantee food sufficiency for the country’s teeming population post COVID-19. Ibrahim said: “The evolution of a healthy and efficacious Nigerian seed system would have a ripple effect on the entire African seed system coupled with a fully implemented AfCFTA will ultimately bring about food sufficiency in Africa, which will in turn actualise the zero hunger Africa drive of the AfDB finally.”