Okwe Obi, Abuja

In preparation to celebrate the 2018 World Food Day, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh has assured Nigerians of the Federal Government’s determination to wipe out hunger, food insecurity and poverty before the end of 2030

Ogbeh, who gave the assurance after a sensitization walk ahead of the event, yesterday in Abuja, praised the resilience of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for investing in Nigeria for the past 40 years.

Represented by the Director, Policies, planning and Cordination, Nasiru Adamu, he said, “this year’s World Food Day also marks the 70th of the establishment of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). And 40 years presence in Nigeria. 40 years in the life of a nation is a great achievement. The theme, “Our Actions are our Future: A Zero Hunger World by 2030 is possible,” is possible.

“It is a well cut out theme at this period when impact of climate change is very much devastating on food production and food security. The theme can be actualised if government, private sector and development partners work in collaboration to fight hunger, extreme poverty and malnutrition.

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“The principle of this administration is to treat agriculture as business. Before now a lot of people look down on agriculture,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the Country Representative of FAO, Suffyan Koroma, however, pledged the organisation’s commitment to asisting Nigeria fight hunger and extreme poverty but also tasked farmer to be knowledgeable on the type of crop to produce and for the appropriate market

According to Koroma, “Nigeria should be free from hunger by 2030.

“But that does not just rest on agriculture as we know it. It goes beyond that because if you look at the complementary services that agriculture needs to strive, they are also valuable as the product that we produce from the farm.

And for food prices to be low it does not just mean production; it means the value added product, services that we provide and how efficient they are. Even effective legislation can lead to zero hunger and knowledge as to what to produce and to what market,” he advised.