Soaring prices of food

The recent worldwide increase in the prices of foodstuff, especially grains, has elicited stern warnings of a growing global food crisis from the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), that should be taken seriously by all responsible governments. The World Bank, which confirmed the international dimension of the dreary news in a report entitled “Rising Food Prices: Policy Options and World Bank Response” gave examples of the price of wheat which had increased by a whopping 181 per cent in 36 months, and the overall Global Food Price increase of about 83 per cent. The bank has called on the international community to fill the hunger gap with a $500 million intervention.

The World Bank report came on the heels of news that the Federal Government had to release grains from the nation’s strategic reserves to bring prices down, last month. The inflationary trend has been especially noticeable in the country in the price of the local staple, rice, which rose from between N5.500.00 and N7000.00 in December 2007 to about N10,000.00, or more today.

The price of the grain is expected to go even higher as major producers and exporters of the product, notably China and Thailand, have warned that they are running out of stock, as explained by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, in Washington DC, recently. Members of the Master Bakers and Caterers Association of Nigeria, citing increases in the price of wheat flour, have also disclosed a plan for a 25% increase in the price of bread, after a brief closure of their factories from April 23, 2008. They are calling for subsidies on wheat flour to make bread cheaper for Nigerians.

The problem of soaring food prices has drawn the attention of the House of Representatives, which recently invited the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sayyadi Abba Ruma, to appear before it to explain the short and long–term plans that the government could adopt to check the situation.

The minister, who laid the blame for the problem in the country on post-harvest losses and over–dependence on food imports, called for a N200 billion special intervention fund to redress the problem and improve the nutrition intake of about 65 per cent of Nigerians who have been determined to be food insecure. He lamented a situation where the nation loses 50 per cent of fruits and vegetables, 30 per cent of tubers and 20 per cent of grains to lack of storage facilities with $2.797 billion spent on food importation in 2006.

The increase in the price of food items is a regrettable development given the already high poverty level and desperate feeding conditions of a large population of our people. It is a direct fallout of our neglect of agriculture, which led to the collapse of the framework for an agricultural revolution, and our status as a net importer of food, which cannot feed its population. This situation, which arose out of our over-dependence on oil as a revenue earner, has to be quickly addressed.

Even without the warning of an impending global food crisis, Nigeria has to work hard to improve food production and reduce prices. It is obvious that the nation today cannot absorb any shocks from disruptions in both the local and international food supply chains.
Our best bet, therefore, is to develop a framework to revolutionize agricultural production. A country with our massive landmass, good climate and a teeming population of unemployed persons, should not be so dependent on food imports.

We need to pay attention to food cultivation and develop policies that will multiply output from that sector. We should invest seriously in production, processing, storage and distribution. The 2008 budget, which gave seven per cent to agriculture, should be improved upon, henceforth, to meet the 10 per cent of annual budget recommendation by the Maputo Declaration.

The warning from both the World Bank and the FAO should serve as a wake up call for action that will lead to massive agricultural growth and increased food supply. We should strengthen the agricultural sector, which once drove our economy and can still do so, if we have the will to commit necessary resources into the effort.