Islamic Member Countries Move to Mitigate Threats to Food Security

James Emejo in Abuja

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mustapha Shehuri, has said the country is prepared to partner with the Islamic Organisation for Food Security (IOFS) in proffering enduring solutions to the current challenges in the governance of food security in the respective member countries.

Speaking at the opening of the IOFS regional training workshop on Strategic Planning and Policy Development in Food Security, the minister expressed delight that the organisation has not deviated from the core principle to provide expertise and technical know-how to member states on the aspect of sustainable agriculture and rural development in addressing current issues threatening food security in the world, particularly the African region.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, Shehuri noted that the IOFS was established in 1964 while Nigeria became a member in 1986.

He said Nigeria has demonstrated firm belief in the principles and objectives that established the organisation through the implementation of several initiatives in line with the IOFS Action Plan as conceived during the 40th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Conakry, Republic of Guinea in 2013.

Meanwhile, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has selected Nigeria to serve as the food and grain storage hub for the cooperation.

This was disclosed by the Director Federal Department of Agriculture, Mr. Abdullahi Abubakar.

Speaking to journalists at the workshop in Abuja, he said

the OIC Secretariat will mobilise the resources, purchase the food commodities and grains, and store them in the various silos in Nigeria for onward distribution to countries that need them.

Abubakar said, “As the name connotes, Islamic Organization on food security, what we are trying to do under this organization is to make sure that food security has become a norm in Africa, and particularly the member countries of the Islamic Organization on food security.

“In Nigeria, we have been given the centre of excellence for cassava, we are trying to see how we can also develop palm oil, rice and other commodities, but importantly, the centre of excellence for cassava that is domiciled in Nigeria.

“We want to make sure that at this workshop, we are able to come up with a strategy that we will implement so that it will help the whole of the member countries.

He said, “In Nigeria, we have done our homework; we are just waiting for the end of this workshop to give us a marching order. The marching order is that we have already selected the site, we have liaised with the National Root Crop Research Institute, Umudike, and we have sited the station in Kuru, Jos, all these are criteria and milestones they wanted us to take.

“Another proposal that is on the table which we hope this workshop will rectify is for us to have a strategic food reserve system. We want to have a hub of grains and all sort of food commodities that that is going to be used by the West African region in Nigeria, so that it can be the hub where we will now distribute to other countries in the event of need.”

According to him, “All the member countries of OIC selected Nigeria as the storage hub. The Secretariat of the OIC will garner the resources, buy the grains and store them in Nigeria so that in the event of any food insecurity we can take it from Nigeria to those places.”