By John Oba
Abuja
The federal government has stated that it will not patronised any third party grains hoarders saying the plan to sell grains to the government at exorbitant rate will be disappointed.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, in a statement said the government has made high breed seeds available to farmers, while soil test and relevant fertilizers are also within the reach of farmers as parts of effort to encourage all season farming.
This according to him will reduce pressure on grain purchase hence discourage any form of hoarding that may increase the price of grains. He said:
“There are reports of the hoarding of large tons of harvested grains by some individuals who hope to sale at exorbitant price to the government. I will warned that government, especially the ministry has no plans to buy grains from any unscrupulous third part and anybody hoarding grains is doing that at his own risk.
“The government is determined to ensure that the country enjoys food security and self-sufficiency and has therefore put measures in place to enhanced increased food production, especially grains.
“The government policy is to greatly ensure the drive towards achieving self-sufficiency in grains, to meet local demands from North to South and East to West, nevertheless, to encourage farmers in a situation where there are huge grains due to increase production, Government last resort is to buy off excess grains from farmers to be stored and released when the need arises,” he explained.
He said the Ministry in its efforts to enhance agricultural sector’s self-sufficiency policy, has engaged in all-year-round agriculture including dry season farming through increased investment in irrigation and that those hoarding grains should make them available for consumers saying hoarding them will affect their quality and that they may eventual loss both of the grains and their much desired profit in monetary terms.