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By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
Senator Solomon Adeola on Tuesday supported President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda on agriculture and food security by empowering over 5,000 farmers with equipment, farm inputs and cash grants to boost agric production in the new farming season and ensure food security.
Recalling that President Tinubu started tackling agric production and food security issues with the launch of N100bililion National Agriculture Development Fund, which was closely followed with the “Earn From the Soil” project, Adeola said the measures brought about the distribution of 60,342 metric tons of improved seeds, 887.255 metric tons of seedlings, 62,328 metric tons of inorganic fertilizers to farmers and cultivation of 118,657 hectares of wheat in 15 States of the country.
Addressing the beneficiaries at Ilaro, the headquarters of Yewaland South Local Government Area of the State, Adeola who is the Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriation, said the federal government has also put measures in place through River Basin Authority to ensure three seasons annual farming calendar.
The empowerment which he facilitated in conjunction with Federal College of Agriculture, Isiagu, Ebonyi State and Federal Cooperative College, Eleyele. Ibadan, involved a total of 5,910 practicing farmers in 235 clusters who received training in modern farming methods with 3,082 of them benefiting directly while others benefited from shared equipment like tractors.
Among the empowerment items for the trained cluster – farmers were 20 tractors, 184 tricycles, 536 water pumps, 1,800 sprayers, 10,560 bags of NPK fertilizer, 2,880 home kit fertilizer seeds and 5,577 growth enhancers. Others are 66 Nos of 13 HP Power Tillers, 2,000 gallons of insecticide, 403 Porter organic liquid fertilizers as well as inputs like cassava stems, various improved seedlings, 30,000 pineapple suckers beside other seeds and seedlings.
He noted that the need to enhance agriculture production and food security informed the President’s resolve to allocate over N350 billion for reticulation and desilting of various dams across the country by all River Basins Development Authorities to provide water for massive irrigation of farm lands.
The Senator added that the FG was also in the process of acquiring 2,000 tractors it had ordered from United States of America for distribution to farmers across the country, even as he noted that Tinubu’s administration was also working for improvement of the livestock sector of agriculture with the establishing a full fledged Ministry of Livestock.
He said the new ministry would address the challenges of livestock production and boost various species of livestock nationwide, stressing that a total sum of N12 billion was budgeted for the ministry while ranches would be established in seven states, including Lagos and Ogun States.
According to him, the empowerment has been timed to coincide with the beginning of this year’s farming seasons and to enable the beneficiary – farmers operate at least three farming seasons in a year as part of the Renewed Hope Agenda for Food Security of President Tinubu.
He explained that in addition to the empowerment with equipment and farm inputs, each of the farmers also went home with a cash grant of N100,000 as a form of financial lifeline to enable them focus on their farming and not trade away the inputs.
He urged them not to misuse or sell the various inputs given to them, saying they were meant to assist in substantially increasing their production and income.
