The All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain in Osun State, Mr Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, stated how President Bola Tinubu’s 50% reduction in farming input prices for farmers in the country’s dry season might tackle the rise in food prices.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Oyintiloye said that even with the nation’s current high rate of inflation, farmers would be greatly helped by the president’s subsidy on agricultural inputs.

This would increase food availability and help farmers increase production.

Oyintiloye, a member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) noted that the country’s current food inflation, according to the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) stood at 31.5 percent, adding that the average price of one kilogram of rice local sold rose by 68.10 percent on a year-on-year basis from N487.47 in Oct. 2022 to N819.42 in Oct. 2023.

He said the NBS statistics further revealed that the average price of one kilogram of brown beans rose by 39.90 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N564.69 in Oct.2022 to N790.01 in Oct. 2023, among other food prices.

“We need to commend President Tinubu for this 50 per cent subsidy on farm inputs”. This will go along way to boost food and nutrition security, attract private sector investment reduce post-harvest losses, as well as add value to local agriculture produce in the country”, he said.

Oyintiloye said the programme of National Agriculture Growth, which was aimed at supporting farmers through training on good agricultural practices and provide certified inputs would enhance food production.

He said the President’s passion for food security and his quick intervention on fertilizers, improved seeds, mechanisation and grants in both long and short terms would yield a desirable result to ensure food production round the year.

Oyintiloye, however, appealed to the federal government to relate directly with subsistence and large scale farmers, among other stakeholders in agriculture business through their various associations.

He said this would enable them to access various government intervention programmes without any form of hindrance and make Nigeria self-sufficient in term of agriculture produce, thereby making prices of food items affordable.