By Ehigimetor Igbaugba
The Federal Government says at least 343,187 farmers have been supported under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme Agro Pocket Project (NAGS-AP) within the last two farming seasons.
The farmers were supported in growing crops such as wheat, maize, rice, sorghum, soybean, millet, and cassava.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said in Calabar yesterday during the commencement of the 2024/2025 dry season farming under the NAGS-AP programme.
He broke down the figures and crops grown to include 107,429 wheat farmers in the first phase of 2023/2024 and 43,997 rice farmers in the second phase.
The Minister listed the last figure as 192,095 rice, maize, sorghum/millet, soybean, and cassava farmers in the 2024 wet season across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
He said the programme was undertaken with a $134m loan facility from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to increase the production of staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, and sorghum.
Kyari said national dry season farming was reintroduced to boost year-round agricultural production and guarantee national food and nutrition security in the country.
“Mr. President accorded great attention to the agricultural sector right from the inception of this administration because of the pivotal position of the farm sector in the national economic revival process.
“To match his words with action, Mr President declared an emergency on food production to enable all Nigerians to get easy accessibility to quality food at affordable rates.
“Further to his declaration and priority attention given to the agricultural sector, the Federal Government secured a loan facility of $134m from the African Development Bank (AfDB).
“The aim is to increase the production and productivity in some staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both dry and wet season farming in the country,” he said.
To underscore the programme’s importance, Kyari said the Ministry is addressing some noticeable challenges under the NAGS-AP programme.
He said that his Ministry had reviewed operational standards to guide the programme’s implementation to make it more efficient and expects all stakeholders to adhere strictly to the set operational standards.
He said Cross River was chosen for wheat production to utilise the favourable climatic and weather conditions in some parts of the state.
“The passion and commitment of the governor of Cross River, therefore, informed our Ministry’s desires to partner with the state government to kick-start this maiden wheat production in the state.
“This will enlist the state among wheat-producing states commencing from this current 2024/2025 dry season farming,” he said.
Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu, represented by his deputy, Dr Peter Odey, said the state aimed to bolster food availability.
He assured the state of its support for the initiative, especially as it is listed as a foremost wheat-farming state.
“This will further propel us to intensify efforts to produce more grains and seeds for food availability. This dry season farming will also help us in irrigation,” he said.
