By John Nwokocha, Abuja
The Federal Government has maintained that Nigerians are being fed by smallholder farmers without whom the nation would have run into food crises.
Minister of State, Agriculture and Rural Development, Mustapha Baba Shehuri said that the smallholder farmers operate on little but very significant plots of land on which they toil all year round producing basic food and cash crops and contribute over 80% to national food supply.
Shehuri disclosed this during the flag–off of the distribution of free agricultural inputs to farmers in Maiduguri, Borno State on Monday.
The Minister stated that the Federal Government 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.
Shehuri added that the farmers would play a major role in ensuring food security and towards averting food scarcity in the 2021 dry season farming which is on-going.
He stated that “President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that smallholder farmers must be supported with seeds, agro chemicals and small equipment to rekindle their hope and accelerate their recovery process from the economic loss suffered during the period of pandemic “.
He pointed out that “Extension Services have been rejiged 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, available to farmers on subsidy that ranges from 50% to 100%.
According to him, “this initiative to a large extent has helped the farmers to increase their profits and earn income to support their families economically”.
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.
The Minister said that rural infrastructures are mainly rural roads, solar boreholes, street lights and rural markets to be distributed across the three senatorial districts.
He informed that “the items provided for farmers are 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, among pumps.”
“It should be noted that this is third in the series of the distribution of the Ministry’s palliative incentives to farmers in the North East after Gombe and Bauchi states that were just concluded last week. So far 12 states have benefitted nationwide with quality inputs to sustain the food production, create jobs and grow the economy from rural base,” he said.
The Minister disclosed that “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’’.
He stressed that ” 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 as centre of excellence designated for wheat research in Sub Sahara Africa ”
The highlight of the ceremony was when the physically challenged farmers received inputs to boost production and income.
In his remark, Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, represented by the Chief of Staff, 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.
Director, Federal Department of Agriculture in the ministry, Mrs. Karima Babangida thanked Zulum and other stakeholders for their support and urged the farmers to key into the value chain policy of the Ministry which is aimed towards achieving food sufficiency, increase earnings and job creation for the farmers
In another event, the minister commissioned the Bolari Rural Modern Market in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council. He stated that the market would ensure that the farmers have their produced items at identified spots which will increase sales and earnings.
He also visited the Lake Chad Research Institute, Maiduguri whose mandate is to improve the yield and disease resistance of millet, wheat and barley and experiment different systems of farming in the north east to identify which one is suitable for each crop.
The Minister tasked the management of the institute to be self sufficient and explore alternative financial options of funding beyond focusing solely on budgetary allocation.
