Food And Global Priorities

Last week, the World celebrated the 2015 World Food Day, a day in the UN Calender, specially set aside to raise public awareness about challenges of hunger, arising from food shortages  and encourage people worldwide to stand up and fight hunger and malnutrition. In fact, World Food Day has become a special a day of action against hunger.
With the theme, ‘Social Protection and Agriculture’, this year’s edition could not have come at a better time than now when oil exporting countries are trying to diversify their economies, after years of neglect of the agriculture sector. That is why The Tide thinks that the day repesents an important platform necessary to redirect global energy towards providing not just food, but to protect agriculture and ensure food security.
It is a fact that any nation, no matter how powerful that cannot feed its people is not secure. Unfortunately, while population is growing and conflicts increase across the world, attention seems to have shifted to the acquisition of weapons instead of food. Human life appears to matter little or no more. Yet, food is one of the basic needs of man that should always command priority attention. ‘Without good  food, human health is also at risk.
Regrettably, in some parts of the world including Africa, accessibility and affordability of food have become a challenge, and people are daily malnourished, abused and killed by hunger. We think that in the interest of humanity, it is time to recommit to eradicating hunger in those parts of the world daily suffering the pangs of extreme poverty and focus on solutions to hunger.
Remarkably, the world has always taken up the need for food in its plan with Millennium Development Goals, MDGs and Short Term Development Goals, SDGs influencing basic consideration. In practice, however, the response of the governments of the world especially in Sub-Saharan Africa appears to fall short. Most of the attempts at advancing process of agriculture, food production and supply are often misplaced, abused or abandoned half way.
In Nigeria, the oil and gas potentials of the nation have diverted the attention of successive governments and the people for decades. In fact, agriculture, especially, farming was virtually abandoned in the mad rush for windfall from crude exports. The famous groundnut pyramids of the North, the cocoa and palm oil resources of the South West and South East, were allowed to disappear with little or no effort by  successive governments to revive them. Sadly, even funds meant to assist farmers in most cases are shared to political associates and cronies.
In the Niger Delta, the degradation of the environment on account of oil and gas activities has become a major problem. While farmers can hardly plant and harvest anything meaningful, fishermen have been denied their source of livelihood on account of polluted waters and swamps.
More worrisome is the issue of  insecurity that has become an albatross to agro business, not to mention  lack of loan facilities for investment and absence of the much-needed  political will to support agriculture in the country.
True to the theme of this year’s celebration, we agree that it is time for agriculture, and indeed food production to be given the necessary attention needed to ensure food security in the country.
We think that it is time for governments at all levels to begin to put agriculture and food production on the front burner by not on paying lip service to policies and programmes, but be more proactive in equipping the farmer with modern tools and access to funds for improved yields.
There must be deliberate plans to make soft loans and other vital tools needed for mechanized farming and other agro-related businesses accessible and affordable, while steps should also be taken to ensure that harvested produce are evacuated, preserved and made available to the consumer in the modern and convenient ways possible.
The environment, especially, as it concerns the Niger Delta must be protected to guarantee fertile agricultural practices particularly, fish farming. With that done, it should challenge the private sector to invest meaningfully in that regard, if we are to achieve the desired results.