Flooding: Buhari Directs Ministry To Mitigate Effects On Farmers

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to  take mitigating measures to curb the effects of flood plaguing farmers across the country.
The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Sonny Echono, made this known when he briefed newsmen on the sideline of the 2015 World Food Day celebrations in Abuja on Friday.
Echono said the ministry would be promoting climate agriculture which would increase the use of flood resistant and early maturing varieties of crops.
“President Buhari feels and share your pains and has directed that we take mitigating measures which shall be announced in due course.
“We shall be promoting climate smart agriculture to increase the use of flood resistant and early maturing varieties, adoption and use of organic nutrient, including fertiliser, mechanisation and irrigation facilities,’’ he said.
Echono hailed the achievements of farmers, processors and agropreneurs who constitute the bulwark in the fight against hunger and deprivation in the country.
He said the aim of the celebration was to promote worldwide effective action to end hunger, malnutrition and poverty by ensuring that everyone has economic access to food.
Also, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Mr Jose da Silva, said the global community had made significant progress in fighting global hunger and poverty.
Represented by FAO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Louise Setshwaelo, da Silva said 72 out of 129 countries had achieved the Millennium Development Goals target of halving undernourishment.
He said in spite of the successes, 800 million people across the world still suffer chronic hunger and about one billion people are trapped in extreme poverty.
The director-general said most of the World’s poor live in rural areas and depended on agriculture to survive, and urged all stakeholders to reaffirmed commitment to end hunger in the world.
It would be recalled that Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with FAO and other stakeholders organised a sensitisation road walk to mark this year’s celebrations.