Nigeria’s Retrogressing Agric Productivity Worries Obasanjo

A former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has said that Nigerians need to worry about the country’s changing demography driven by rapid growth in population coupled with a stagnant and in some cases retrogressing agricultural productivity.
Obasanjo stated this at the just-concluded Nigeria Zero Hunger Forum (NZHF) in Sokoto State.
He noted that “by 2050, the country’s population would be over 400 million, and the increase in population would put pressure on food systems as more people would require food to eat for survival.”
According to him, “Nigeria should begin to think and proffer solutions to this coming challenge that the country would be faced with in no distant future.”
The former president’s position was re-echoed by the former governor of Adamawa State, Alh. Murtala Nyako, who canvassed greater youth involvement in agriculture.
Nyako underscored the importance of nutrition to the peace and security of the nation, stressing that a well-nourished population is calmer than one that is not.
He added that the restiveness being experienced across the nation was correlated to poor nutrition among children who end up stunted with low intelligence quotient.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar commended the Nigeria Zero Hunger initiative, and lauded Obasanjo for taking the driver seat to move the initiative forward.
The Sultan, who is the spiritual head of Muslims in Nigeria, called on the Federal and State governments to fund agricultural research and extensions services.
Deputy Director General for Partnerships and Delivery at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Dr Kenton Dashiell, said the task of ending hunger required partnerships and collaboration among all actors in the agriculture value chain.