Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has said that the Federal Government will commence the second phase of dry and wet season farming intervention this month.
Speaking while hosting the Ekiti State governor, Mr Abiodun Oyebanji, the minister said the first phase of the intervention is facing the challenges of round-tripping in connivance with agro-dealers and poor validation of farmers’ data in parts of the participating states.
He said the ministry is fully committed to addressing the issues of round-tripping and poor validation of farmers’ data.
“We seek the support of all stakeholders in the agricultural sector to overcome the challenges and ensure a successful intervention despite time constraints.
“The second phase of the dry/wet season farming intervention is expected to commence this month, and we are determined to make it a success,” Senator Kyari said.
On his part, Governor Oyebanji said for his one year and two months in office, his administration has provided support for farmers in the state.
He said the first thing the administration did was to change the orientation of farmers by letting them know that farming is a business and not the normal hoe and cutlasses.
“We have supported farmers on land clearing and land preparation, we have gotten improved seedlings for them and we have connected them with grants and loans with low interest rate.
“In most countries, farmers are the richest, but here they are the poorest, simply because they work for the middlemen, so we try to cut that one off,” Governor Oyebanji said.
He said the state will provide infrastructure in terms of good roads, access to electricity continuously investing in rural electrification and connecting rural communities to national grid.
Oyebanji further stated that his administration is also in collaboration with a lot of research institutes for knowledge transfer and to also ensure that farmers know the right skills of agriculture.
“We realise that there is a limit which we can go and we need to partner with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security so that we can scale up.
“My visit here today is to explore areas of collaboration with the ministry. We want to be part of the Agro-Pastoral Development Project,” he added.
