( Idi Mukhtar Maiha, Minister of Livestock Development. Photo Credit: Punch News)
The Federal Government has reaffirmed its determination to address food insecurity and joblessness through agricultural and pastoral sector expansion.
The Minister of Livestock Development articulated this position whilst representing the government at the second International Conference of the Agrifood Systems Stakeholders Forum hosted by the University of Port Harcourt on Monday.
The gathering, convened by the Agricultural Policy Research Network, centred on strategies to combat food insecurity, destitution and youth unemployment.
The minister commended the network for organising the event and advocated for sustained coordination among sector participants to advance agricultural development, emphasising that such cooperation would enhance productivity, generate employment and restore public confidence in the sector.
He acknowledged constraints limiting sectoral growth, noting that the administration was implementing interventions addressing limited access to expertise, capital, infrastructure and market channels.
Environmental pressures including climate instability, flooding, drought and soil degradation alongside escalating production costs represent mounting challenges.
Additional obstacles encompass disease outbreaks, losses following harvest, inadequate buyer-seller connections and restricted capital availability.
Within these pressures lie prospects to establish food systems demonstrating greater efficiency, broader participation and climate adaptation capacity, whilst providing sustainable work for female and youthful populations.
The livestock sector encompasses considerable commercial prospects spanning feed manufacturing, breeding facilities, milk gathering, veterinary services, storage, transformation, transportation and value-extraction from waste streams.
The university’s chief academic officer characterised agriculture as a fundamental remedy for intellectual emigration and youth relocation, describing outward migration as a factor hastening talent loss and economic deceleration across the continent.
He called on policymakers to enhance agriculture’s appeal to young people to reverse this trend, commended the presidential administration’s sectoral emphasis, and stressed the necessity of sustained commitment to agricultural governance.
The research network’s president emphasised the importance of enhanced institutional collaboration to resolve hunger and employment crises, noting that the conference integrated academic investigation with implementable strategies addressing deprivation and malnutrition.
He projected that the gathering would generate enduring responses to agricultural underperformance, construct defences against climate volatility and mitigate internal tensions.
