Ifere Paul|13 April 2016|5:40am
During the last campaigns, I wrote an article against the policy of the food bank of then Governorship candidate Ben Ayade. In that article, I demonstrated that the policy if pursued will turn Cross Riverians beggars. For some reason, I was very aware that, then Governorship candidate Ben Ayade may just want to implement his food bank policy, because he had no agricultural policy even as we speak.
I wasn't surprised when I read an article yesterday circulated by Emmanuel Ulayi, one of Governor Ben Ayade media PA or media rats as they have been called, that Governor Ben Ayade has kept aside 1.7billion Naira to commence his food bank policy.
What is food banking? Food banking is a situation where food is stored in large scale in anticipation of a major food shortage in the future as a result of drought or other environmental happenstances. To bank food may come as a result of other disasters like the Fukushima in Japan, the Sichuan Earthquake in China, and the Biblical drought in accient Egypt. Food Bank like every other accient civilization started in Egypt.
Governor Ben Ayade food banking knowledge is very narrow. For him, food banking is an agricultural policy other than a relieve major put in place by government to salvage a precarious situation.
To bank food is not the distribution of food only. It also involves the mass growing of food. When you get yams, rice, indomie, garri, etc into a storage facility where you later distribute to the needy is not an agricultural policy growth. If anything, it is a method of killing the agricultural ingenuity of the people.
In the USA, grains are bought and stored by government in large quantity. Farmers are encourage through different agricultural policy initiatives to produce massively, either directly or indirectly. The farmers sells their products back to government at certain prices to enable the farmers pay off whatever agricultural loans or schemes they enjoyed from the the government. When the government buys these produce, they either sell to different food based industries, home and abroad, and or export to countries without food. When you see the US giving food aids to countries in disasters and war, the food is from their food banks.
Don't miss the point please. First, the US government put into being a conducive policy that empowers the farmer to increase food production. Secondly, there must be a production of food that can feed the population, take care of industry demand, export demands, and the excess is taken to the bank. The same thing is applicable to the Thailand Rice Revolution(TRR) in the early 1980's. These agricultural thematic maps are being used by different governments, including Ireland, Israel, India, China, etc.
For Senator Ben Ayade, food bank is the distribution of indomie, yams, garri, and potatoes. Ben Ayade does not have a farm. All through his senate showmanship, he has always bought food for his food bank. Therefore, keeping aside 1.7billion Naira for his food bank commission is the most unfriendly agricultural policy practice to come from Cross River State.
Governor Ben Ayade who is also asking Heritage Bank to partner with his vision of a food bank commission in Cross River State instead of partnering with the bank at providing meals in schools program which can create jobs for different people in Cross River State.
As the farming seasons are here, one would have expected that Governor Ben Ayade would pump in the 1.7 billion Naira to farmers across the State to improve farming practices, provide improved and disease resistant seeds, give fertilizer subsidies to farmers, etc. But here Governor stands talking down on our poor subsistence mothers. Other than come to their aid, the governor described them as old hands and old schooled with obsolete farming implements.
Rather than seek ways to mechanized the farming system in the State, Ayade is talking about transferring farming to corporate companies, thereby reducing our poor mothers who depends on subsistence farming to survive to beggars.
It is quite sad to sit down and watch as Governor Ben Ayade commits mistakes upon mistakes. For once, our governor should understand that a food bank policy will not work without a vigorous pursuit of transforming the agriculture in the State into a youth employer and food security sector.
Ifere Paul
Is an Environmental Activist & Public Policy Analyst