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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) has distributed agricultural inputs to 1,300 farmers in Ebonyi and Osun States, to boost food production.
NALDA Executive Secretary, Prince Paul Ikonne, said with the directives of President Bola Tinubu, the agency would ensure that Nigerians produce enough food for Nigerians.
Represented by the Head Soil Science Department Lucius Ndimele, Ikonne said NALDA would continue to distribute these inputs till it get to farmers in every states of the country.
“The government is making sure that you can produce what you’ll eat by providing you inputs and the essence of what we’re doing here today is to ensure Nigerians understand the importance of farming, make sure we produce what we eat and reduce the price of food in the market”
He noted that the NALDA empowerment programme is in line with President Bola Tinubu’s directive to NALDA to reach out to farmers across the country to ensure they produce food while helping the country achieve food sufficiency.
Recall that President Tinubu had declared a state of emergency on food hence the move by NALDA to compliment the President’s food security efforts through empowerments programme to cushion the effect of high cost of living.
“It is expected that in the next 3 to 4 months, the outputs from this programme, would help in the significant drop in the cost of food items in the market.
“The empowerment of farmers by NALDA is a continuous exercise to encourage more Nigerians go into farming to ensure self-sufficiency in food production thus boosting food security for the teeming population.”
According to him, 900 accredited beneficiaries of the empowerment programme received a NALDA branded bag containing high grade fertilizer, herbicides and improved rice and maize seeds for Ebonyi and rice and beans seeds for Osun states that can effectively cover half an hectare of farm land.
The inputs were distributed with each states area of agricultural specialisation in view.
In Ebonyi for instance, beneficiaries from consisting of mostly women and youths, gathered at Ishiagu Community in Ivo Local Government area of the state to receive the empowerment packages from NALDA officials.
400 farmers consisting of 200 maize and 200 rice farmers were drawn from 10 communities in Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo Federal Constituency for the exercise.
In Osun state, 500 farmers drawn from all the local government of the state, were empowered with Maize and beans seeds in Oshogbo the state the state capital.
