1 min
In the last 7 years since I started writing this weekly series titled "A Letter to my Farmers", I have constantly upheld that working policies would significantly impact our food system, and achieving food security or zero hunger becomes a possibility. However, the results of the policies that were supposed to realize these goals are still invisible.
During my seven years, more than 5 new major policies and counting (Agricultural Promotion Policy 2016-2020, National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP), 2021–2025, National Fertilizer Quality Control Act 2019, National Policy on Food Safety and Quality and its implementation Plan 2023 (NPFSQIP) amongst many others) were established to address some key issues in the food system. The results are still not visible: the prices of fertilizer are extremely high, mechanization is still very low, issues of food safety are still prevalent and many more issues are bedevelling the agricultural sector.
Are these policies not addressing their objectives? Or are they not working due to unforeseen circumstances? Or are our problems beyond what policies can solve?
These answers are not far-fetched -- policies are developed to address key issues in the society, and they are based on verified data to identify key issues and their consequences. Beyond their formulation, policies are constantly monitored to ensure that they performs their stated objectives -- and they could be adjusted based on new realities to meet the growing needs of the populace.
However, in our own case, agricultural policies are hardly monitored due to resource constraints and other factors. As a result, changing needs and realities are not captured or addressed.
Beyond having a long list of agricultural policies that have outlived their existence, we need to put a more efficient system in place to manage existing policies to meet our changing needs and address our new realities. We just need working policies that understand our needs, have various strategies to address them and constantly provide guidance to meet those needs. Policies are bedrock to the solutions we need to achieve food security and zero hunger in our country.
Without working policies, we cannot have a working system, and without a working system, we cannot have a working food chain and our growth and development becomes just a façade. Let us brace up and remove these ghost workers from our system as their purpose serves nothing tangible to our food system and let us replace them with policies that can work and work well for the 21st century food system.
Yours-in-Service
Babatunde
Are these policies not addressing their objectives? Or are they not working due to unforeseen circumstances? Or are our problems beyond what policies can solve?
These answers are not far-fetched -- policies are developed to address key issues in the society, and they are based on verified data to identify key issues and their consequences. Beyond their formulation, policies are constantly monitored to ensure that they performs their stated objectives -- and they could be adjusted based on new realities to meet the growing needs of the populace.
However, in our own case, agricultural policies are hardly monitored due to resource constraints and other factors. As a result, changing needs and realities are not captured or addressed.
Beyond having a long list of agricultural policies that have outlived their existence, we need to put a more efficient system in place to manage existing policies to meet our changing needs and address our new realities. We just need working policies that understand our needs, have various strategies to address them and constantly provide guidance to meet those needs. Policies are bedrock to the solutions we need to achieve food security and zero hunger in our country.
Without working policies, we cannot have a working system, and without a working system, we cannot have a working food chain and our growth and development becomes just a façade. Let us brace up and remove these ghost workers from our system as their purpose serves nothing tangible to our food system and let us replace them with policies that can work and work well for the 21st century food system.
Yours-in-Service
Babatunde
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