President Goodluck Jonathan has
approved N14billion to support the 2014 dry season farming across the
country.
The president who made this known yesterday
during the official launch of the Dry Season Farm Support programme at the
Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, said N9 billion was approved for
the dry season farmers last year and that the support will continue to increase
as more farmers key into the programme.
He promised that his administration will work
to ensure that the dry season food support programme becomes a national food
policy.
He said: “Our resolve to expand this dry
season programme is strong and subsequently it has to come up in October so
that they will get what they need before the commencement of the dry season.
“To demonstrate this, I am today (yesterday)
announcing N14 billion to support the dry season farming for 2014. Last year it
was N9 billion, this year is 14 billion and as more states come on board we
will continue to increase the amount of money.
“We I’ll continue to work with farmers and
that is why I am announcing today that the support will become a national
policy. Our nation shall be green, our barns shall be filled and our farmers
shall prosper.” he said.
He however urged the ministry to move the
launch of the dry season farming up to October or November as January is a bit
late.
He said the programme was launched in 2011
with the goal of adding an additional 20 million metric tones of food to the
country’s domestic food supply in order to change the approach to agriculture.
“As a nation,we must feed ourselves. A giant
that cannot feed herself of course the weight of the giant will crush the weak
legs if there is no food.”
Jonathan said the country did not suffer from
food crisis because the Growth Enhancement Programme (GES) has already reached
about one million genuine farmers who have already harvested their crops before
the 2012 floods.
He noted that food stuffs like rice and other
grains have been harvested and stored especially in states that were not
affected by the flood.
“High yielding seeds of rice including those
that would tolerate flood as well as fertilisers that are provided free of
charge to over 257,000 farmers in 10 leading rice producing states in the
north, namely Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa,
Kogi and Niger states. Our farmers showed reliance, our food production from
the impact of the flood I am happy and proud of farmers, they set a record by
producing one million metric tones of paddy rice within one dry season. In
total and across the country, our farmers produced additional 15 million
metric tones of food within two years and this is how it should be, this is the
way to go” he said.
Stressing that agriculture is no longer a
developmental project in Nigeria, he said: “We no longer treat agriculture as a
development programme, we now talk about wealth creation not poverty
alleviation. We have changed our approach and that is why we are here today”.
“We will continue to expand the GES to reach
other farmers. It is our hope that we will reach 10 million farmers by the end
of this year with improved seeds, fertilizers and other production input
including farms machinery hiring centers. The ministry is working to establish
centers where tractors can be addressed at reduced prices. We are working to
improve the access of farmers to markets.”
“Modern warehouses will be established across
the country so that farmers can store their produce and the airport facilities
will be expanded to be able to move the produce as they come.
He vowed that the “loss of more than 50 per
cent of persherable commodities must stop”.
The President said he had been duly briefed
that over 600,000 farmers have already registered to produce food in this
year’s dry season representing an increase of about 1.5 per cent over the
numbers who participated last year.
Twenty more states, he said, have registered
to participate in dry season farming in this year’s programme compared to last
year.
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