The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, says the ministry has procured and distributed 58,500 metric tonnes of milled rice to dampen escalating food prices in the country.
Kyari disclosed in his presentation at the ministerial sectoral update in commemoration of President Bola Tinubu’s first anniversary on Monday in Abuja.
He said the presidential priority of the ministry on the Renewed Hope Agenda was to boost agriculture to achieve food security, enhance infrastructure and transportation as enablers of growth.
The minister said it was also to improve governance for effective service delivery.
“We inaugurated the dry season farming with cultivation of 118,657 hectares of wheat in 15 states of the country in acceleration of all year- round farming.
“We supported 107,429 wheat farmers with inputs resulting in output of 474, 628 metric tonnes.
“Also, estimated value of N309 billion was injected into the economy.’’
Kyari said that in response to presidential directive, the ministry released to National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for the distribution of 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted food commodities from the Federal Government Strategic Food Reserve.
The minister said that the ministry carried out the fortification of crops with Vitamin A micro- nutrient to enrich content and health value of food commodities.
Kyari said that the ministry in response to ginger blight disease in some parts of the country, put in place an initiative for tackling ginger blight attack by disbursing N1.6 billion to support affected ginger farmers in Kaduna and Plateau states.
He said that the ministry also development a Ginger Master Plan to facilitate self- sufficiency and promote export for foreign exchange earnings.
On the control of pests, the minister said the ministry conducted aerial control operation to mitigate trans- boundary pests.
He said the ministry carried out control operation of 1,030 flight hours in frontline states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara to prevent trans- boundary pests.