Daily Trust - the online edition

As the current global food crisis threatens to compound the poverty and hunger situation, Nigerians have urged governments at all levels to take immediate action to check the situation.

The crisis, which the World Food Programme, a UN agency, described as a "silent tsunami", has resulted to unprecedented increase in food prices worldwide with greater impact on developing nations, including Nigeria.

In recognition of the attendant consequences of the price hikes, the Federal Government had in February ordered the release of grains from the strategic food reserve to augment the available food in the market place, with a view to forcing down prices.

But several weeks after the directive, prices appear to have remained on the upward trend.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) conducted a market survey to find out the reasons for the continued price hikes, the efforts being made to address the situation as well as suggestions on the way forward.

Some respondents who spoke with NAN blamed the trend to inadequate supply occasioned by the "massive" flooding that occurred during the 2007 farming season in most parts of the country.

The floods were said to have ravaged thousands of hectares of farms especially in the northern part of the country, leading to poor harvest.

There were also insinuations that the late release of fertiliser might have contributed to the poor harvest.

Some said it was due to the agricultural drought which had affected the northern states while others attributed the situation to the food crisis in some countries.

It is also believed that the "massive" purchase of excess grains by some state governments to keep as buffer stock might have compounded the problem.

The price hikes has also been attributed to hoarding by grains merchants, the activities of middlemen and agents of the breweries and manufacturers of poultry feed.

NAN correspondents who went round markets across the country, noted that the prices of grains including maize, millet, sorghum, beans and rice, the major staples, had more than doubled in some cases.

Before the hikes, a 100 kg bag of maize, millet and sorghum among others, had sold for N3,300 but have now shut up to an all time high of about N6,400.

Beans and rice witnessed a similar trend, rising to N9,000 and N12,000 per bag respectively as against their previous prices of between N6,000 and N8,000 respectively.

The same scenario played out in most of the markets surveyed nationwide, with only minor price variations.Also affected are food items like yam, palm oil, vegetable oil,

potatoes and pepper.

However, the prices of vegetables including onions, and tomatoes among others, have remained stable.

Reacting to the situation, Dr Okey Onuchukwu, a lecturer in the Department of Economics, University of Port Harcourt, called on the government and international

agricultural agencies to provide adequate training for farmers on the proper use of pesticides and other agrochemical.

Onuchukwu, in an interview with NAN, urged governments at all levels to grant loans to farmers in order to avert possible food shortage in the country.

He stressed that staple foods might be difficult to afford in the future, if farmers were not properly empowered to cultivate.

According to him, the prices of foodstuffs have remained on the increase because farmers lack the financial muscle to cultivate enough to cater for the food needs of the country.

"Clearly our farmers lack a lot of things; the money is not there for them to invest; they also lack the necessary knowledge about basic farming requirements," he said.

In Bauchi, NAN correspondents discovered that several major grains markets witnessed short supply of grains, resulting to hoarding by grains dealers at the popular Sunday Grains market in the Alkaleri Local Government area.

A visit to other grains markets like Muda Lawal, Railway and Central markets in the Bauchi metropolis, showed that the prices of a bag of maize and millet had more than doubled from their previous prices.

A cross section of traders interviewed by NAN at the various markets, said the escalating prices were caused by inadequate supply.

Malam Kabiru Ali, a maize dealer, attributed the scarcity to the flood disaster which, according to him, had ravaged large hectares of farmlands in the state during the last farming season.

He said that the "aggressive" purchase of excess grains by the state government to keep as buffer stock, had compounded the scarcity.

"The increasing demand of grains amidst low supply is responsible for the nprecedented increases in the prices," Ali said.

A cross-section of Bauchi residents have decried the situation and called on the federal and state governments to evolve effective strategies to check the escalating cost of foodstuffs.

Mrs. Sarah Danjuma said: ‘’Since the beginning of the new year, grains merchants have continued to increase prices on the pretext of drought and food shortages.’’

Another resident, Malam Umaru Adamu, said that the price increases was constituting a "heavy drain" on his pocket.

He urged the Consumer Protection Council to monitor the activities of grains dealers in order to protect Nigerians from unnecessary exploitation.

‘’We are calling for serious measures to regulate inflation,’’ Adamu said, adding that the trend was exposing Nigerians to unnecessary hardship.

In his comments, Alhaji Abba Datti, Director, Agricultural Services in the Kano State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said that the state government had already embarked on some measures aimed at alleviating the problem.

Datti said the government had introduced what he called "maize doubling" programme which involved planting maize using irrigation, adding that farmers were being

encouraged to cultivate other crops such as wheat and rice.

The survey in Abbare, Yelwa, Iware, Zing and Jalingo Markets in Taraba showed that grains prices shut up By 95 per cent between January and now.

A grains dealer, Malam Garba Musa, attributed the increase to the influx of grains merchants from neighbouring states.

He also blamed the drought that affected some northern states as well as the large purchase of grains by agents of breweries and manufacturers of poultry feed from the southern part of the country.

In Gombe, a farmer, Mr Yerima Danzaria observed that the high cost of food being experienced this year was exceptional and suggested that farm inputs be made available to farmers at subsidised rate to boost farming.

From the FCT comes a report that some housewives have urged their husbands to increase upkeep allowances for the home in line with the high cost of food.

Mrs. Caroline Okafor, a housewife, who said she used to receive N15,000 as monthly home upkeep allowance, said the rising cost of foodstuff had rendered the money inadequate.

‘’Before now, I used to buy foodstuff and sundry articles with N15,000, but now this amount is not enough.

"I am appealing to our husbands to increase our upkeep allowance," she said.

Mrs Grace Etta, a civil servant, expressed the same sentiment and appealed to working women to assist their husbands by contributing toward feeding the family.

‘’For those of us women who are workers, we should assist our husbands to enable them to cope with he situation,’’ she said.

Etta also appealed to the government to increase the salaries of civil servants, saying: "Their take home pay is no longer taking our men home."

In Kogi, the state chapter of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), called on the Federal Government to adequately fund the National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI), Badeggi, in Niger state to enhance its research efforts.

The AFAN chairnman, Dr Tunde Arosanyin, said the institute, if properly funded, would be able to find a lasting solution to the problem. He attributed the high cost of grains to "the inability of NCRI to embark on research that would boost the quantity and quality

of cereals produced in the country.’’

He also linked the rising cost of rice to the unfavourable climatic conditions being experienced in some Asian countries including

Malaysia and Indonesia.

Arosanyin, therefore, appealed to governments at all levels to make tractors and other agricultural inputs available to farmers at subsidised rate to boost farming.

In his own contribution, the Emir of Keana in Nasarawa State, Mr. Emmanuel Elayo, called on traditional institutions to provide adequate land for the youths to cultivate food crops.

Elayo told NAN in his palace at Keana that the measure would help create employment for the youths and provide food security for Nigerians.

In Ogun, a prominent farmer, Chief Francis Fagbenle, urged governments at all levels to relate with genuine farmers rather than those he described as "pen farmers".

Fagbenle is the Chairman of Egbado/Ajegunle Farmers Production and Marketing Cooperative Society in Ewekoro Local government area of Ogun State.

He noted that if given the necessary attention and support, Nigerian farmers would be able to produce enough food to feed the nation.

"Farmers need assistance and when government thinks of lending a helping hand, they do not deal directly with farmers.

"Rather they always deal with ‘pen farmers’ and ‘political farmers’, who formulate theories and own no single plot of farmland," he said.

He commended the Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank

(NACRDB) for assisting farmers, but said that the amount was usually too small to engage in large-scale production.

"In our cooperative groups, the maximum of N250,000 and minimum of N50,000 loans is rather too meagre," he said.

Fagbenle, therefore, urged the federal and state governments to improve their assistance to real farmers. NAN.