The Federal Government has said the current increment in prices of food items is blessing in disguise for the country.
However, the minister noted that the government was working assiduously to bring down the prices.
This was revealed by the Minister of Agriculture and chairman of presidential task force on soaring prices of foodstuffs, Chief Audu Ogbeh.
“The federal government will intervene on the prices of rice and other commodities in the next two weeks; details of the intervention would be spelt out for all Nigerians,” he assured.
“We are talking to farmers to ensure that the prices are drastically reduced. Government has also put in place different measures aimed at making farming encouraging.
The minister noted further that the current high price regime will help improve participation in agriculture as several people will be forced to see it as a lucrative business.
In his words: “Although the high price is bad for non-farmers, it is good for the country because more and more people will rush to agriculture. At the end of it all, production will increase and prices will necessarily fall,” he told Leadership.
He said the cost of credit to farmers has been reduced, noting that the Bank of Agriculture is being re-organised to further bring down the interest rates.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that a big of rice which initially sold for eight to ten thousand Naira now sells for has high as twenty thousand Naira. This is applicable to other food items such as yam, beans, palm oil, etc.