The Federal Government says it has secured a $134 million loan facility from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to support farmers in boosting seed and grain production across the country.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this during the unveiling of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming in Calabar.
He explained that the reintroduction of national dry season farming aims to boost year-round agricultural production, and the loan facility would play a vital role in achieving this goal while also ensuring national food security.
The Minister stated that the initiative falls under the National Agricultural Growth Support Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project.
He noted that the Federal Government had declared a state of emergency on food production to ensure all Nigerians have easy access to quality and nutritious food at affordable prices.
Focus on agricultural sector for economic revival
According to him, the government aims to leverage the agricultural sector for national economic revival by increasing the production of staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both the dry and wet farming seasons.
He further revealed that under phase one of the 2023/2024 dry season, no fewer than 107,429 wheat farmers have been supported, while 43,997 rice farmers have benefitted under the second phase.
He explained that the government recently supported 192,095 farmers cultivating rice, maize, sorghum/millet, soybean, and cassava under the 2024 wet season across all 37 states, including the FCT.
He also noted that Cross River is leading 16 other states in wheat production, with over 3,000 wheat farmers already listed to benefit from the government’s support to cultivate the grain.
Partnership with states to expand wheat production
Kyari said this informed why the federal government was partnering with the state to kick-start the maiden wheat production and enlisting them among states commencing the current 2024/2025 dry season farming.
“In the 2024/2025 dry season farming, the project is targeted to support 250,000 wheat farmers across the wheat-producing states with subsidized agricultural inputs.
“250,000 hectares of land will be cultivated with an expected output of about 750,000 metric tonnes of wheat, which is to be added to the food reserve to reduce dependence on the importation of the product and also increase domestic consumption.
“The programme will also provide support to 150,000 rice farmers under the second phase to cover all 37 states, including the FCT, with an expected output of about 450,000 metric tonnes,” he said.
On the agricultural mechanization programme, the Minister disclosed that the Economic Council had received a briefing and approved the Greener Hope Agric Mechanization Consortium, a ten-year initiative with a total investment of $1 billion.
He stated that the consortium is expected to establish 1,000 agro centres with service providers across the country.
According to him, the centres are also projected to engage about 600,000 youths and provide 2,000 tractors annually over the next five years.
The Minister further revealed that the government had commenced the sale of 30,000 metric tonnes of milled rice to Nigerians at a subsidized rate of N40,000 per 50-kilogramme bag, with the exercise set to take place across the country.
He explained that injecting 30,000 metric tonnes, equivalent to 1,000 trucks of 30MT each of this essential staple into Nigeria’s food supply is expected to not only reduce the price of rice but also drive down the cost of other close food substitutes.
Agricultural Priorities under the Renewed Hope Agenda
He emphasized that under the Renewed Hope Agenda, the ministry’s presidential priority is to boost agriculture in order to achieve food security, while also enhancing infrastructure and improving transportation as key growth enablers.
“We are also focusing on improving governance for effective service delivery,” he added.
The Minister also disclosed that, in response to the outbreak of ginger blight disease in parts of the country, the ministry launched an initiative to tackle the attack by disbursing N1.6 billion to support affected ginger farmers in Kaduna and Plateau States.
Kyari stated that a Ginger Master Plan was developed to drive self-sufficiency and promote export for increased foreign exchange earnings.
Food reserve release for emergency distribution
He further revealed that, following a Presidential directive, the ministry released 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted food commodities from the Federal Government’s Strategic Food Reserve to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for nationwide distribution.
According to him, 42,000 metric tonnes of grains had been delivered to all states, in addition to 20 trailers of rice per state.
He added that the ministry also implemented a crop fortification programme, enriching food commodities with vitamin A micronutrients to enhance their nutritional value and health benefits.
