As Nigerians hope to see food prices reducing soon, the Federal Government, Monday, disclosed efforts in transforming South-South small holder farmers and lands into food production powerhouse.
This was made known by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, South-South Geopolitical Zone, Gift Johnbull, during an interactive session with journalists under the auspices of the South South Journalists Forum for Good Governance, SSFGG, while speaking on the importance of agribusiness that would greatly solve challenges facing women and youth in the region.
Johnbull said over 100, 000 farmers are projected to be engaged in the region in this wet season farming as the government is working with farmer cooperative societies to get the real farmers’ data on the heels of the engagement the government had with them in the six states (Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers).
She also noted that the region is blessed with fertile land that can grow crops in mega hectares and harvest in huge tonnes, which the farmers could make huge profits.
According to her, the region is not basically an oil and gas hub but a powerhouse for food production, which the Tinubu-led Renewed Hope Agenda is currently harnessing.
She said: “The President is very interested in food security. We targeted a couple of priority crops based on our research, our engagement in the time past, and we picked cassava, rice, cocoa, oil palm, maize, and aquaculture across the region.
“There are several local governments that are strong in certain priority crops unlike the other ones, but, and then we are adding plantain and yam to it but the sixth priority agricultural commodity that I mentioned is what we are actually targeting for now.
“We are looking at 100,000 small holder farmers because small holder farmers actually make the last chunk in the agricultural sector right now. If you gather 100,000 small holder farmers and you aggregate all their produce, that is a large chunk going into the market, and when we have excess, of course, more supply than demand, the price will come down and then we can even have enough to process and start talking about exportation.”
On the modalities to engage the small holder farmers, she (Johnbull) explained that, “We have met those farmers, different cooperatives. So the pattern this is going to take is to work with cooperatives, cluster the women into cooperatives because you can easily address them, we have done all that profiling and data collection across the region.”
She also maintained that it will impact on job creation based on the various value chains the government is focusing on, and she also explained that aquaculture is one the major value chains the government is focusing on, especially, in Rivers and Bayelsa States.
“There are actually youths already doing aquaculture. In Bayelsa and Rivers States that is basically what most of them do but it is just that it is in a very small scale, so they cannot really do so much with it, and then even if they do well relatively, the shelf life of aquaculture is very short, and when you go to most of this region, when they actually get a very good cash or they have their raw produce, it can last two days if there is no proper cold room.
“And that is why we need to partner with all the stakeholders to ensure that these riverine areas have proper cold rooms, solar-powered cold rooms in all the riverine villages, and then dehydrators, dryers because there are so many people that actually want most of this seafood but you hardly would transport them fresh into the major urban city centres but you can dehydrate, dry, process, and ship it, and then your supermarkets can have them”, she added.
Meanwhile, speaking on the Project Earn From The Soil, with ₦10 billion fundraising drive aimed at tackling rural poverty and enhancing agricultural productivity in the South-South, she said majorly part of the fund will be channelled to agriculture in the region.
“Our small holder farmers don’t need to start struggling and doing the toil and labour where they work from season to season, and have very little to actually save or improve their agricultural business with. So that fund is supposed to target small holder rural women farmers, and fisher folks.
“The event at the State House Banquet Hall on the 10th of December was after we’ve gone across the six states in our region, Calabar, Akwa Ibom, and then we did Bayelsa, Edo, Delta, and Rivers.
“Now, the fund is not yet available. It was launched then, so we are looking forward to meeting relevant stakeholders to ensure that amount of money, or even more, is pumped into the agricultural sector in the South-South region this planting season that is starting from April. So this is a call to all stakeholders in the agricultural sector to look into the South-South region at this farming season.”
Meanwhile, she highlighted some significant achievements and impacts made by the Tinubu-led administration in the South-South region; infrastructural projects for the South South region through the Federal Ministry of Works, agricultural empowerment, and others
“A very key thing why the President has created this office is to also ensure that there is inclusivity in his government, and that is why he has created a bridge. So the President is not far up there. He has used an office like this to create the bridge between the people and the government. So there is this interaction, relationship because the truth is, nation-building is a collective effort”, she added.
By Ebriku John Friday
