From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The federal government has revealed that it secured a $134 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the African Emergency Food Production Facility (AEFPF) as a Sector Budget Support (SBS) to boost food production.
The government explained that the loan would be implemented through the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP), known as Policy Base Operations (PBO), across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, for a period of three years (2023 to 2025).
This was disclosed yesterday in Abuja by the Director of Mechanisation, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Onyeisi Joseph, at a media workshop entitled: ‘Building Partnership with the Media for Food Security.’
Represented by a staff member of the department, Sule Majeed, he said:
“Nigeria, under the African Emergency Food Production Facility (AEFPF), was granted a loan of $134 million as a Sector Budget Support (SBS) to be implemented through the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP), known as Policy Base Operations (PBO).
“It is to be implemented across the 36 states of the federation and FCT for the period 2023 to 2025.
“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the implementation of the project was executed between the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for the support to the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP), under which the Federal Ministry of Finance is the Executing Agency while the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security via NAGS-AP is the Implementing Agency.
“The project consists of four mutually reinforcing components, viz: Agricultural Sector Reforms which aims to operationalise the newly developed sector policy (NATIP) to ensure harmonized development efforts and resource tracking.
Additionally, an administrative/NAGS secretariat will oversee the implementation of the Agro-Pocket Scheme. The day-to-day activities of the PBO will be coordinated by the National Project Coordinator (NPC) at the NAGS-AP project secretariat.
There is also the improvement in the Delivery of Farm Inputs and Quality Extension Services where farmers involved in the cultivation of rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava will be supported with quality agricultural inputs and extension advisory services to enhance productivity, food, and nutrition security.
Under the Support to Wheat Production,150,000 to 200,000 farmers will be supported with agricultural inputs to cultivate about 200,000 hectares of irrigable land across the wheat-producing states.
There are also efforts to ensure the enhancement of Private Sector Participation in Local Production of Agricultural Inputs
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi, said the government would embark on ‘Operation Empty the Stores’ across the country.
Ogunbiyi explained that the initiative aims to ensure that machines and other inputs are distributed to farmers instead of lying idle in warehouses.
“We will be embarking on ‘Operation Empty the Stores.’ It means that all equipment we have in the stores is not meant to stay in the stores; they are meant for service.
“Therefore, I will embark on emptying our stores nationwide so that the equipment and inputs will be useful to our farmers,” he said.