The federal government has said that over 30 per cent of food produced in Nigeria every year is challenged by post-harvest losses due to a lack of storage facilities transportation and lack of equipment.
To address the problem of post-harvest losses being experienced by farmers, the federal government has concession 17 silos with 6000 metric tonne storage space to the private sector to enable farmers to have access to storage facilities.
The government has also established green aggregation centres that will clean, dry, process and bag our finished products and this will attract over N18 billion to the economy.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, who disclosed this at the Second West and Central Africa Post-Harvest Congress and Exhibition (WCAPHCE) 2022 with the theme, “Upscaling and Promotion of African Indigenous Food to global standards” in Abuja, said that the responsibility of government is to provide enabling environment for the private sector to drive the economy adding that government is working to ensure that the food security in Nigeria and Africa is addressed.
The minister who was represented by the Director, of Food and Strategic Reserve in the Ministry, Dr Haruna Suleiman, explained that the green aggregation centres would enable farmers have access to be able to clean and dry their agricultural produce during harvests and to reduce post-harvest losses and also add value to whatever is being produced through these centres.
He said, “The major problem being faced by farmers in the country is post-harvest losses as a result of, transportation, lack of equipment that can add value to what is produced, and lack of storage facilities. In addressing this problem, the Federal government has concession 17 silos with 6000 metric tonne storage space to the private sector and also established green aggregation centres that will clean, dry, process and bag our finished products and this will attract over N18 billion to the economy. the responsibility of government is to provide an enabling environment for the private sector to drive the economy”
