…as Nasarawa Gov warns food hoarders to desist from act

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said with the current synergy between the federal and state governments, there is hope to boost food production and reduce high food prices in a short while.

Kyari stated this during a courtesy visit by the Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.

In his address of welcome, he commended the Governor for his visit, as done by the Governors of Jigawa, Ekiti, Kebbi, Sokoto, Niger, Kwara, Taraba, Ondo, and Kogi States recently.

He said, “We are, indeed, excited about the enthusiastic responses of the state governments to our letter calling for Expression of Interest in the Second Phase of the 2023/2024 Dry Season Farming.

“It is our firm belief that the synergy between the tiers of government will more readily assure positive outcomes in our quest for improved agricultural production.

“I am optimistic that Nasarawa State will have little difficulty in fitting into the readiness criteria for participation in the Dry Season Farming.

“The State is notable for grains, legumes, and root crop cultivation, and some of the country’s bigger rice millers are located in the State. The dam in the Doma area is also, I believe, a ready source of water supply during the dry season.

“But, let me quickly hint that Nasarawa State should prepare to lend additional support to farmers during this period.

“This is because, when the Federal Government offered the 50 percent subsidies on agro-inputs during the take-off of wheat production, there were reported cases across a number of states of farmers who were too indigent to pay their counterpart 50 percent in order to access the agro-inputs.

“A few States provided additional subsidies, while others assisted the farmers with land clearing, and quality extension services. Yet others have invested in power tillers and solar-powered water pumps.

“It is interesting that, last year, NASENI laid the foundation for a solar cell production plant in Gora, Nasarawa State. It is our expectation that in due course the plant, when operational, will be the feeder for solar-powered pump needs in the immediate environment and beyond.”

He added that with the engineering background of his guest, the Ministry “would equally be delighted if Your Excellency emerged as a formidable champion of mechanisation in our agricultural production.

“As we are about to get into the planting period, there is little question that in the absence of mechanisation by way of combine harvesters, we can scarcely mitigate the aggregate post-harvest losses arising from the current manual methods of harvesting.”

The Minister also acknowledged that “Agriculture is time-sensitive. And, in November of 2023, under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) project, we launched the first phase of the Dry Season Farming with particular focus on 15 wheat-producing States of the Federation.”

Meanwhile, according to him, “Field reports indicate varying degrees of success of the wheat fields across the participating states.”

However, the Minister pointed out that, “These success stories are emerging in spite of some shortcomings in the full implementation of the first phase.”

He further stated that, “The second phase of the Dry Season Farming is soon to take off, and this time all 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, are expected to participate in the production of maize, rice;

“…and cassava on properly identified irrigable farmlands cultivated by genuine farmers, who will benefit from the Federal Government’s subsidized certified quality seeds and agro-inputs, such as fertilizers, micro-nutrients, herbicides, and pesticides.”

On the sidelines of the courtesy visit, the Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, asserted that the high prices of food across the country were a result of people hoarding food items.

Sule, therefore, disclosed that if anybody was found hoarding food items, they would be seriously penalized, hence they should desist from the act or regret it.

“We look at the Strategic Grain Reserves and see what we can release but there is also a lot of hoarding and not just releasing from the Strategic Grain Reserves, there are a lot of people that are hoarding a lot of food items hoping that the prices will go up.

“In a meeting with the National Security Adviser, NSA, during the meeting of Governors has also indicated that Mr President is interested in ensuring that we go and check, and make sure that people are not hoarding food items, and where such things are found people will be penalized for that”, he said.

Meanwhile, the governor assured the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security of his state’s support for the upcoming dry season farming and said that, being a state blessed with land resources, they would take full advantage of the food security programmes and initiatives by the Ministry, and whatever they are doing for farmers in the state would be doubled for better and increased production of food.

He also added that they will embark on full-scale mechanized farming along with the oil discovered in commercial quantities in the state.