By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Minister of State, Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Mustapha Baba Shehuri has flagged-off the distribution of some farm inputs to smallholder farmers.
The farm inputs distributed include; certified rice seeds – faro 44(24MT), Maize foundation seed (15MT), Cashew nuts (1,5MT) Groundnut foundation (2.5MT), Cashew seeds (1.5MT), Castor foundation (1MT), 3HP irrigation water pumps and among others.
Shehuri during the flag–off/roll-out ceremony of the distribution at the Ministry’s office complex in Maiduguri on Monday, also stated that the Smallholder farmers contribute over 80% of food production to Nigeria’s food supply.
According to a statement signed by Ezeaja Ikemefuna, the Chief Information Officer of the Agric Ministry on Tuesday, the federal government noted that it would continue to support smallholder farmers as well as the Physically Challenged farmers in Borno state to boost Agricultural production in the state and Nigeria in general.
He stated, ” President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that Smallholder farmers must be supported with seeds, Agrochemicals and small Agro equipment to rekindle their hope and accelerate their recovery process from the economic loss suffered during the period of Pandemic “.
“Extension Services has been rejigged to serve farmers so that there is seamless and unbroken food supply chain across the country. These efforts had since paid off as our food requirement is mostly produced locally with little or no consideration for food imports since COVID-19 set in.”
The Minister reiterated the commitment of the Ministry towards making the country self-sufficient in food production through appropriate Inputs distribution which is available to farmers on the subsidy that ranges from 50% to 100%.
He observed that in spite of the security challenges in the State, farmers have demonstrated resilience by optimizing productivity to contribute to national food security, adding that the Federal Government would continue to provide the much-needed support to further encourage them towards boosting food production and providing Rural infrastructure to support their efforts.
“It should be noted that this is 3rd in the series of the distribution of the Ministry’s palliative incentives to farmers in the North East after Gombe and Bauchi States that was just concluded last week. So far twelve states have benefitted Nationwide with quality Inputs to sustain the food production, create jobs and grow the economy from a rural base.
“At least 35% of the agricultural inputs are targeted at women farmers in line with the targets set in our National Gender Plan and Policies aimed at ensuring increased opportunities for women. This has been communicated to the Farmer Associations accordingly.
“The Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) which is located in Maiduguri is available for state government and other stakeholders in application and updating of knowledge in key areas of Agriculture and also centre of excellence designated for wheat research in Sub Saharan Africa,” the statement added.
In his remark, the Executive Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, represented by the Chief of Staff, Prof. Isa Hussein, lauded the Agricultural policies and visionary leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari in the sector geared towards job creation, food sufficiency, and economic growth. He appealed to the farmers to make judicious use of the Inputs strictly for farming and not to sell the Agricultural Inputs.
