The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Muhammad Nanono, has warned that Nigeria may produce enough food to eat, but people would still sleep hungry because they did not have enough money to buy the food.

He attributed the problem to unemployment, which inhibited people from earning money for food, rent, or education, identifying that as a great challenge to the nation.

“I recently met with some young Nigerians who are into processing and synergising agriculture with industry, and that is exactly what we need in this country. Unless we create that relationship and make it strong, poverty will persist,” said Mr Nanono. “If we do not focus on how to remove this fundamental issue of an army of unemployed youths and move them to be gainfully employed, we are doing nothing. The relationship between the agricultural sector and the industrial sector is a must.”

He pointed this out at the 2021 Feed Nigeria Summit in Abuja.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mustapha Shehuri, has described the country’s food system as weak and vulnerable to shocks.

Mr Shehuri, represented by a director at the Federal Department of Agriculture, Karima Babangida, said the ministry was determined to create a functional food system that will guarantee all citizens unrestricted access to good quality, nutritious and safe food.

“This underscores the various programmes and interventions that are ongoing in the Ministry in areas of agricultural livelihood and support, food safety, and the provision of infrastructure in different ecological zones of the country,” Mr Shehuri explained.

He added that for a sustainable food system, the country must rise to overcome the challenges of poor quality food supplies, hunger, malnutrition, and improper habit of promoting food wastage.

“This is the acceptable consumption behaviour globally to which the average Nigerian, especially in the urban areas, pays little or no attention,” the junior agric minister noted. “If we devote so much to produce, we should pay more attention to avoid waste because of its negative economic and environmental impact.”

(NAN)