The Federal Government says plans are underway to boost food production in the country through mechanisation.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, stated this while speaking with newsmen at the end of the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP), meeting on Saturday, January 13, 2024, in Abuja.
The meeting was a stakeholders review and preparatory meeting for the implementation of the second phase of 2023-2024 dry season farming in the country.
The minister said that mechanisation farming was key to agriculture as it would support food production in the country.
”President Bola Tinubu said he is going to give us all the support for mechanisation and we will soon run out the mechanisation programme,” he said.
On the dry season farming, Kyari said that a dimension of encumbrance to the dry season wheat farming under the NAGS-AP were cases of farmers’ inability to pay their component of the input cost.
“The good news is that upon realisation of this, we got the message to President Tinubu and he has graciously directed that additional support be given to farmers to cushion such effect in subsequent interventions.”
In a goodwill message, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Olawale Edun, said that the importance of the agricultural sector could not be overemphasised.
He said that agriculture is one of the key sectors in the economy as it is the the main objective of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Edun said that if there is abundant supply of food, there would be a reduction in inflation that would also lead to reduction in poverty as well as creation of jobs and a much more stable economy.
On his part, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, observed that the country has been blessed with capable ministers of agriculture to provide food security.
Bagudu , who said that the Federal Government had taken measures to ensure the economy was stable, assured that more interventions would come to help farmers in the country.
Also speaking, President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, (AFAN), Mr Kabir Ibrahim, said that the country’s quest to achieve food security would be expedited through mechanised farming system.
By Doris Esa
