Edo farmers receive 28,200 quality seeds, various equipment, and chemicals from the Agriculture Ministry.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.

On Thursday, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development distributed 28,200 quality seeds, as well as various equipment and chemicals, to smallholder farmers in Edo State, as food production is expected to increase despite high prices.

Dr Ernest Umakhihe, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (FMARD), made the seed, equipment, and chemical distribution while flagging off another distribution of free ‘Agricultural Inputs and Quality Seeds Intervention’ for smallholder farmers in Edo State.

In the post-COVqID-19 era, Umakhihe expressed hope that the distribution would improve food and nutrition security, economic growth, and job creation.

Included are 3000 oil palm seedlings, 20,000 cocoa seedlings, 5,000 coconut seedlings, 200 yam seeds, and other high-quality seeds.

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Among other things, the ICRC provides over 50,000 IDP farmers with 2mmt of seeds.

20 food dehydrators, 50 motorized oil palms, 5 cashew crackers, and a 3 horsepower water pump were among the agricultural equipment distributed. 100 Knapsack Sprayers; 1,000 litres of Cypermtetnine; 400 litres of Agrixyme; 1,239 litres of Glyphosate; 960 litres of Pathway (liquid); 5 power tillers; and 200 honey bee clothing.

“Because smallholder farmers are the most vulnerable in times of crisis, it has become critical for the Federal Government to support them with much-needed inputs, particularly seeds, which are the most important factor influencing farmers’ yield,” he said.

“Meanwhile, in accordance with the National Gender Plan and Policies aimed at increasing opportunities for women, 35 percent of the inputs were targeted at women farmers and processors.”

“Similarly, 10% is earmarked for people with special needs, and this has been communicated to farmer associations so that they can act appropriately,” he said.

He reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to and focus on national and food security issues through strategic policies such as the Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan, AFJP, the Green Imperative, the Agricultural Promotion Policy, NATIP, and the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, PFI, among others.

Meanwhile, he stated that the Ministry of Agriculture has distributed various equipment, improved seeds, and seedlings of various crops to farmers in Osun, Plateau, Kaduna, and Taraba States, with Katsina State set to receive the next major input and equipment distribution.

Umakhihe charged the recipients with using the inputs wisely in order to produce food for the nation, while urging other stakeholders to provide similar assistance to farmers “so that together, we can become self-sufficient in food production.”

The initiatives, according to Edo State Commissioner of Agriculture and Food Security, Hon Stephen Idehenre, were designed to provide critical support to smallholder farmers in the state, leverage land assets to drive development, and diversify the economy with a focus on sustaining food security.

According to Idehenre, the Independent Farmers Initiative provided agricultural inputs to 2,050 smallholder farmers to drive cassava, maize, rice, and soybean value chains, and the oil palm program made 63,000 hectares of brown fields available for investors to develop oil palm plantations, with the goal of making Edo State a leader in African oil palm production.

Earlier, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Bako Dogo, Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, Edo State Chapter, praised President Muhammadu Buhari’s Federal Government for its progressive and pragmatic agricultural policies aimed at diversifying the economy, increasing production, and income for farmers in the country.