By Daniel Essiet

The Executive Director, Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Dr Olufemi Oladunni, has warned of imminent food shortage next year following extreme weather, including low rain threatening to disrupt  farming since relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.

Speaking with The Nation, Oladunni said in some places in the Middle Belt, such as Kwara State, indequate rain has affected cultivation, an unprecedented phenomenon that has been blamed on climate change.

He maintained that the nation could face severe food shortages over the next few months as a result of extreme weather: flooding, late rainfall, rising food prices and other threats.

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He said farmers were experiencing lean harvests since climate change has already altered rainfall patterns across the region.

He noted that farmers were confronting high cost of input that have tripled in most cases.

Farmers, according to him,  have raised the alarm over adulterated fertiliser and other farm input distributed by some dealers during this year’s season’s planting exercise.

This is because farmers have recorded failed crops attributed to adulterated fertiliser. His fear was that the country might face fertiliser crisis, which would affect the farming community and the masses.