The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, says the Federal Government has injected about ₦309bn into various agriculture projects with the aim of improving product harvest in the last year.
He added that the measure was a way of ensuring food security by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The Minister disclosed this while giving an update on the achievements of the ministry at the ongoing 3rd ministerial sectoral update, as part of activities marking the first anniversary of the president.
According to him, the initiative was part of the President Tinubu administration’s 8-points agenda, stressing that his ministry is committed to ensuring that no Nigerian goes hungry.
He stated that the achievements include supporting 107,429 wheat farmers, releasing 42,000MT of food to NEMA, distributing 58,500MT of rice and fortifying crops with Vitamin A.
Kyari added that the ministry has also focused on livestock, pest control, fertilisation and mechanisation, including MOUs with John Deere and Tata Africa for tractor assembly and partnerships with Brazil for mechanisation hubs.
The Minister also stated that as part of efforts to address food and nutrition security, the government has launched dry season farming with cultivation of 118, 657 hectares of wheat in 15 states in an acceleration of all-year-round farming, procured and distributed to all states and the FCT 58,500 metric tons of milled rice to dampen escalating prices, and fortified crops with vitamin A micronutrient to enrich nutrition content and health value of commodities.
In response to persistent food inflation, the minister explained that the government has also taken measures to distribute 60, 432 metric tons of improved seeds, 887,255 metric tons of seedlings and 62, 328 metric tons of inorganic fertilisers and equipment to farmers across different value chains to enhance production.
He further mentioned the improvement of farmland security with the provision of additional resources to agro rangers and other security agencies.
Kyari also highlighted the efforts of the government in response to livestock production and animal health, control of pests and diseases, strengthening mechanisation, and agricultural research activities amongst others.
He noted that the government has intensified efforts on the production and processing of soybean, sesame, ginger and hibiscus for export.