By Bisola Adeyemo
As part of efforts to boost agricultural systems in Bayelsa state, the state governor said his administration would encourage farmers in the state to approach food production as a business in order to boost productivity.
Mr David Alagoa, Commissioner for Agriculture, stated this on Saturday, in Yenagoa, the state capital, while fielding questions from members of Federated Correspondent’s Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists currently on inspection tour of projects in the state.
According to Environews, Alagoa explained that the move was to empower small scale farmers considering the fact that they produced 80 per cent of the food being consumed in the state.
Alagoa said: “I tell you, 80 per cent of the food that we eat comes from subsistence farmers. It is those farmers in the village that feed us, so we have to empower them. That is one angle that we are looking at.
“We have put in place a policy to boost the productivity of subsistence farmers because if they perform so wonderfully without government’s assistance, you can imagine what they can do if they are encouraged.
“Specifically, we are going to assist them through extension services, improved farming methods, high yield seedlings and access to good markets for their produce.
”We are going to have 24 offices at the state constituency levels so that everybody can have access to the one nearest to their constituencies rather than their local government areas.
“If we use the constituency approach to farming, we will reach and have impact on more people,” the commissioner said.