In a prompt, decisive move that comes as a strategic response to the simmering unrest of hunger gripping many Nigerians, the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, recently launched a new, timely and potentially game-changing agricultural initiative. As food inflation and skyrocketing prices of necessities rocked the nation, Governor Soludo’s “Operation Farm to Feed” programme offers a grassroots sustainable solution to a crisis that threatens to engulf Africa’s most populous country.
The pertinent question on the mind of Governor Soludo seems to be: how can a nation, a people, so enviably blessed with fertile, arable land mass and clement weather conditions be struggling with hunger? This has spurred the governor to swing into action with his new initiative in order to galvanise Anambra’s citizens into embracing agriculture on personal and family levels. From sprawling rural homesteads to the modest backyards of urban dwellers, Governor Soludo envisions a state where every available plot of land becomes a bastion of food security.
initiative as a mere band-aid on a gaping wound, but those involved in its implementation can argue that it represents a fundamental shift in thinking. Meaning, the Anambra State government is not abdicating its responsibilities to citizens, but is simply rewiring people’s mindsets to start contributing to solutions by growing what to eat. In essence, let us all in Anambra and Nigeria start choosing to till the soil of self-reliance.
The “Operation Farm to Feed” programme also addresses a deeper, more insidious problem: the growing disconnect between Nigerians and their agricultural heritage. In a nation that was once the food basket of West Africa, urbanization and the allure of white-collar jobs have led to a dangerous dependence on imported and processed food. Our grandparents knew the value of the land, and it’s time we remembered their wisdom and went back to the land.
As the first seeds of Governor Soludo’s vision take root in Anambra’s soil, the rest of Nigeria may be watching with a mixture of hope and skepticism. Can a return to basic farming principles really make a dent in a crisis of this magnitude? Only time will tell. But in a nation hungry for solutions, Anambra’s “Operation Farm to Feed” initiative offers a ray of hope – and perhaps a blueprint for other states to follow. We may not be able to change the whole country overnight, but we can certainly change our little corner of it, one garden at a time. And the harvest, when it comes, may well be bountiful beyond measure.
Written by CHRISTIAN ABURIME
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