By Our Reporter
In a desperate effort to bring down the escalating prices of food items, curb inflation and reduce hunger in the land, the Federal Government is set to remove duties, tariffs, and taxes on some essential food items imported through land and sea borders.
Among the items likely to be affected include maize, rice- white husked brown rice, cowpeas and wheat. These food items will reportedly enjoy 150-day-duty free import window.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari disclosed this at a press conference held recently in Abuja.
The initiative, according to him, is part of the Presidential Accelerated Stabilisation and Advancement Plan that would also enable the Federal Government to import 250,000 metric tonnes of wheat and 250,000MT of maize.
Kyari reportedly said, “To ameliorate food inflation in the country caused by affordability and exacerbated by availability, the government has taken a raft of measures to be implemented over the next 180 days:
“A 150-day duty-free import window for food commodities, suspension of duties, tariffs and taxes for the importation of certain food commodities (through land and sea borders). These commodities include maize, husked brown rice, wheat and cowpeas. Under this arrangement, imported food commodities will be subjected to a Recommended Retail Price.
The minister also allayed people’s fears about the quality of the would-be imported food items, given all the gory news about the risks of Genetically Modified Organism, GMO, food, assuring that the standards of food to be imported would be safe for consumption.
He said: “I am aware that some good citizens might be concerned about the quality of the would-be imported food commodities as it relates to the trending worries around the genetic composition of food. I am glad to reiterate that the government’s position exemplifies standards that would not compromise the safety of the various food items for consumption.”
‘’In addition to the importation by the private sector, the Federal Government will import 250,000MT of wheat and 250,000MT of maize. The imported food commodities in their semi-processed state will target supplies to the small-scale processors and millers across the country.
Kyari further explained that the plan was an initiative of President Bola Tinubu to bring about food security and economic stability in Nigeria.
He noted that the causative factors in the country’s food inflation figures include infrastructural challenges, multiple taxes and levies, and the sheer profiteering by marketers and traders, and stressed that the government was working with state governments to identify irrigable lands and increase land under cultivation.