The Commissioner for Agriculture in Abia, Chief Uzo Azubuike, has said that the state government is unrelenting in its efforts to boost food production.

Azubuike said in a statement signed by Mr Uma Oke, the ministry’s public relations officer, in Umuahia on Monday that 8,000 hectares of land had been acquired by the state government for oil palm plantation.

“The state government has expressed its readiness to recover and develop abandoned state-owned agricultural estates for massive and sustainable food production,” he said.

Azubuike said that the government planned to initiate oil palm projects for communities that desired to replace the aging wild groove oil palm species with high-yield species.

He said that “the revenue accruing from the venture will also go to the community thereby creating wealth in the area.

“The state government will make arrangements with off-takers to avoid occurrence of glut, thereby ensuring the development of a food value chain in Abia.

“It is expected that the project will boost the internally generated revenue and aid in solving the problem of unemployment.”

Azubuike urged farmers in the state to form cooperative societies to enable them to access the various facilities from the government at the federal and state levels.