President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said his administration helped to prevent a food crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic by investing in agriculture.

The President made the remarks while speaking at the National Food Security Council meeting in Abuja.

“In the last five years, we have recorded notable achievements,” he said. “Despite the decline in GDP by 6.1 percent in Q2 of 2020 as a direct result of coronavirus, the agricultural sector continued to grow because of government targeted policies.”

President Buhari noted that there was a need for more effort to increase food production and self-sufficiency, assuring that the Federal Government will continue to promote policies that favour investments in the agricultural sector.

“To protect agricultural investments and boost confidence to our farmers we have deployed thousands of agro-rangers and integrated rural communities to the formal economy by extending access to credit and inputs to rural farmers and building feeder roads,” he said.

“We have invested in building our strategic grain reserves in recent years which we recently released significant quantities to cushion the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to vulnerable households and industries.’’ (Channels TV)