Niger State Governor Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago has queried the federal government's approach to achieving its much-desired strategic food reserve initiative, stating that farmers have already lost three farming seasons because of the absence of direct intervention from the federal government. 
The governor, who stated this yesterday when he spoke as one of the panellists at a dialogue aimed at addressing the malnutrition surge in Northern Nigeria, put together by the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership and held in Abuja, said the federal government still has the opportunity to achieve its objective by extending double handshakes to states with potential for massive food production.
Bago, who asked rhetorically what strategic food reserve meant when the country couldn't produce enough to feed its citizens, said the key to achieving the objective was to partner with the state governments, especially Niger State, which has a massive land area and has invested significantly in mechanised agriculture.
He said his administration has cleared one million hectares of land and is strategically positioned to contribute to food sufficiency, pointing out that until the nation is able to produce enough and keep the surplus, the objective of achieving a strategic food reserve would be a mirage. 
He also advocated that agriculture should not only be limited to cropping but broadened to cover other aspects to explore the value chain needed to address poverty and malnutrition, especially in the Northern Region. 
The farmer governor said it was pertinent for the relevant ministries to partner with all the states to squarely address malnutrition, adding that Niger State was already generating data through the primary health care centres towards tackling the challenge.
He revealed that his administration has diversified the economy of the state by improving agricultural production to a mechanised level to feed the state and the country in general.
He also said the state government was in partnership with several investors for the production of nutritious foods that have a value chain.
The coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed that the Federal Government was expanding the production of food to address challenges associated with malnutrition, among other things.
He said the federal government has mobilised 1.3 million doses of multiple micronutrient supplements to save pregnant women and also made ready a $30 million UNICEF Children's Nutrition Fund for the purchase of therapeutic foods to be channelled to 1,200 primary healthcare centres across the country.
In their separate remarks, the governors of Zamfara and Katsina States, as well as the Deputy Governor of Kebbi State, Dauda Lawal, Dikko Umar Radda, and Abubakar Tafida, respectively, decried how insecurity has negatively affected food production. 
They, however, expressed optimism that the new policies they were introducing would check the trend of malnutrition in their states.