The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, says President Bola Tinubu has approved the implementation of productive measures to tackle food insecurity, to be implemented over the next 180 days.
In a briefing today, Kyari said a 150-Day Duty-Free Import Window for Food Commodities and a suspension of duties, tariffs and taxes for the importation of certain food commodities (through land and sea borders) has been approved.
According to him, these commodities include Maize, Husked Brown Rice, Wheat and Cowpeas, noting that the imported food commodities will be subjected to a Recommended Retail Price (RRP), while reiterating that the Government would not compromise the safety of the various food items for consumption.
While listing other measures to be implemented within the allotted window, Kyari said the success of the measures is contingent on cooperation and collaboration of all relevant MDAs and stakeholders.
The initiative comes days after the United Nations predicted that no less than 82 million Nigerians were at risk of falling into hunger by 2030 due to rising insecurity that has affected farming and triggered the worst food inflation in 25 years.
