EDITORIAL: Assessing The Costs

Osun State has not been spared the horrific dislocation cause by the scarcity of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS). Escalating food prices attests to this. The supply chain is broken and there must be a response.

The response must go beyond the use of “palliatives,” a proposition which is now greeted with reservations, not surprisingly so! The response should include modulating food prices by putting up solar – powered cold storage facilities in the markets.

In addition, government should intervene in the logistics of transporting goods mainly foodstuffs to the markets. Succour should be giving to transporters in terms of fuel coupons and tackling the unnecessary roadblocks, illegal tolls and multiple levies.

READ: EDITORIAL: The Food Wastage Nightmare!!!

They are patently unfair anyway and this is the time to streamline them as the first step towards elimination. The present crises is also a wake-up call that Integrated Rural Development must be reinvented now that the chickens have come home to roost. Fierce urgency must be made to tackle the crises in the rural economy. It is just not about the food issue alone, it is also about national security.

Osun having been rated as the state with highest food inflation rate in the South-West and third with highest cost of healthy diet in Nigeria by the National Bureau of Statistics NBS) this year alone respectively calls for a serious concern.

There is need for the government to embark on massive agricultural revolution in the state to mitigate the effect of the unending food inflation. All our farm settlements should be resuscitated with maximum security against herdsmen invasion. Our storage facilities should also be put into good shape to preserve farm produce for long period.

Kudos must also be given to Governor Ademola Adeleke for the directives on food inflation, fuel price and people’s welfare. The Governor directed the Ministry of Agriculture and the Food Security Committee Action to commence the implementation process without further delay.

Adeleke promised that by next week, the distribution of farm equipment, seedlings and farm inputs including fertilisers, tractors among others will commence among other incentives for farmers.

These, we believe will serve as a succour to farmers and aid food security. We also, however, urge the governor not to play politics with the distribution of the farm equipment. Those who are genuinely in dire need of it should be considered.