By Adedapo Adesanya
As part of efforts to boost food security in Nigeria, the federal government in partnership with International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has commenced distribution of farm inputs to 1,050 cassava and rice farmers in Nasarawa State.
The items distributed included 15,050 kilogrammes of improved rice seeds, 4,650 bundles of cassava cuttings, 788 litres of selective and non-selective herbicides, 78,800 kilogrammes of NPK fertilizer, and 30,100 kilogrammes of urea fertilizer.
Speaking at the distribution exercise in Lafia on Monday, the State Programme Coordinator, Mrs Eunice Adgidzi, said the farmers were drawn from 64 farmers’ organisations from Lafia, Doma, Wamba, Nasarawa and Karu Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.
She explained that the distribution of the inputs to the farmers for the 2021 wet season was under the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP).
The coordinator said that the VCDP programme started in July 2020 with the mandate of improving the production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava in Nasarawa State.
She added that this is the second time they were distributing inputs to farmers in the state since the commencement of the be programme in July 2020.
“In December 2020, we distributed similar inputs to nine farmers organisations in Lafia and Doma LGAs to support dry season farming.
“That supports yielded mind-blowing result following massive yield from the dry season farmers in the benefiting LGAs,” the coordinator added.
She further explained that Afakpo Multipurpose Cooperative Society, one of the groups that benefited from the inputs in 2020, harvested 7.5 metric tons of rice per hectare above the international standard of 4.5 metric tons.
Mrs Adigizi, therefore, enjoined the beneficiaries and other stakeholders to join hands with the government to ensure that Nasarawa State surpasses global standards in the production of rice and cassava.
In his remark, the State Commissioner of Agriculture and Water Resources, Mr Alanana Otaki, commended FG and IFAD for the programme which was aimed at ensuring food sufficiency.
He added that the state had keyed into the FG agricultural programmes and invested a lot in the sector to meet the global standard in agriculture for self-sufficiency in food production.
There were appeals for the extension of the programme to the other LGAs in the state for more farmers to benefit, with the government planning to support the farmers’ organisations with tractors and other farm inputs.
Dipo Olowookere