FG to incorporate agric insurance in food security plans — Features — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

To avoid climate change induced post harvest losses, the Federal Government has begun arrangements to incorporate Agricultural Insurance Scheme into the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket Programme (NAGS-AP) to enhance sustainability and food security.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sabi Abdullahi, who revealed this during the Agricultural Insurance Train-the-Trainer Workshop held in Abuja, pointed out that the purpose of integrating the initiative into the NAGS- AP programme was to protect the investment and interventions being made by the government and the financing partner, the African Development Bank (AfDB), via NAGS-AP, in addressing the sustainability and security of our local food systems.

“We commenced this programme in the 2023 dry season with wheat cultivation. So far, we have been fortunate to have favourable production due to good weather, resulting in a bountiful harvest. “It is more evident than ever that we need a climate risk mitigation solution to close the many protection gaps arising from climate change risks, such as floods, droughts, pests, diseases, etc capable of leading to crop failure or harvest losses,” he said.

Abdullahi noted that these risks have now become central issues affecting the government, financiers, and the beneficiary farmers, who stand to lose the most from seasons of bad harvests, adding that such adverse conditions can wipe out investments and the labour invested in the programme leading to significant food price inflation as being witnessed today.

The minister pointed out that one of the unfortunate incidences of the 2023 wet farming season is the plight of ginger farmers in Kaduna who suffered immensely from the outbreak of the ginger blight disease, losing over 90 per cent of their total harvest for the season.

He, therefore, pointed out that the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu is to arrest the situation through deployment of climate-smart agriculture for the establishment of a resilient food security system because climate-smart agriculture remains the only means for adapting to climate change.

In his opening remarks, the National Project Coordinator, National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP), Mr. Isiaku Buba, noted that the scheme was designed to broaden its operational horizon to carter and accommodate the interest of the farmers and other relevant stakeholders operating along the production line of the chain.

In her goodwill message, the Managing Director, Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation, NAIC, Mrs Folashade Joseph, pledged the readiness of NAIC to partner stakeholders in agriculture and other sectors of the economy by providing sound insurance and other risk management expertise with a view to reducing risks bedeviling these ventures and improving national agricultural output towards the attainment of food security.

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