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From Scholastica Hir Makurdi
The Benue Alia Palm Project (BAPP) is targeting to reach 10,000 smallholder farmers participate in the project in the state.
A member of the BAPP Team, Mr. Samuel Agwa, disclosed this in Makurdi, during a sensitization meeting with the Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and the 23 Heads of Department of Agriculture in the state.
According to Mr. Agwa, BAPP seeks to plant One million oil palms yearly and four million in the next four years.
He said the Governor, through the project, intends to support 10,000 smallholder farmers to grow oil palms, establish five processing mills to enhance value addition to the people.
Agwa also said the project will create 20,000 direct jobs in the oil palm sector, increase oil palm production by 50 percent in the next three years and promote sustainable farming practices and environmental protection in the state.
He describes the Tenera oil palm specie as the most sought after variety of oil palms due to its high yielding capacity and potential to boosting the income of local farmers and called on Benue farmers to embrace it.
Mr. Agwa, therefore, encouraged the Heads of Department of Agriculture in the state to embrace the project by taking the campaign to the grassroot to help local farmers plant them.
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Speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor of Benue State on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dr. Dennis Akura, said the third tier of government in the state is embracing the Benue Alia Palm Project with initial planting of 23,000 oil palm seedlings across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Benue State this year.
According to Akura, the target is to plant one million seedlings yearly, effective 2025.
Earlier, Special Adviser to the Governor on International Investments, Sir Alex Addingi, said the Benue Alia Palm Project is an initiative of Governor Hyacinth Alia, to make Benue State the hub of oil palms and lift thousands of families in the state out of poverty.
According to the Special Adviser, the BAPP Team is committed to supporting local councils in the state to raise their nurseries to ensure access to the Tenera oil palms by the people in their localities.
The Resource Person of BAPP, Prof Qrisstuberg Amua, while giving insight into the economic prospects of the project said the intention is to aggregate farmers for massive harvest and industrialisation, explaining that the Benue humidity is appropriate for growing of oil palms.
He described the oil palm project as a veritable retirement plan, urging local farmers and the people of the state generally, to buy in it and speedily, both for their domestic needs and financial freedom.
In an interview after the session, the Head of Department Agriculture (Gboko LGA), Mr. Yainjoh Godwin, Gboko, said he learnt new things about the oil palm and would take campaign back home to his Community.
He said the council will erect a nursery where seedlings will be raised for local farmers to access.
