Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari who disclosed this on Monday at the Ministerial Sectoral Update press briefing organised by the Ministry of Information and National Orientation as part of activities to mark the first year in office of the present administration, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave the approved in view of the urgent need to get the country out of its present food crisis.
Although the minister was silent on why food prices have remained high despite the government’s claim of releasing 42,000 metric tons of assorted grains for distribution to Nigerians, he said the president’s intervention came as a result of the inability of John Deere to meet an initial memorandum of understanding (MoU) it entered into with the federal government last year to assemble in-country and supply 10,000 tractors with implements and accessories at 2,000 units yearly because of some challenges they could not deal with.
Kyari said 500 of the tractors are already on the way to Nigeria, adding that government is determined to ensure that farmers increase their production.
Listing the achievements of the Ministry in the last nine months when he assumed office, Senator Kyari said the ministry last year launched dry season farming with cultivation of 118,657 hectares of wheat in 15 states in acceleration of all year round farming.
“We supported 107,429 wheat farmers with inputs resulting in output of 474,628 metric tonnes, injecting an estimated value of N309 billion into the economy.
“In response to Presidential directive, we released to NEMA for distribution 42,000mt of assorted food commodities from the FGN Strategic Food Reserve. Procured and distributed to all 36 states and FCT 58,500 metric tonnes of milled rice, to dampen escalating prices.”
To tackle the persistent food inflation by boosting food production, the Minister said his ministry distributed 60,432mt of improved seeds, 887,255mt seedlings, 138 value kits, 501,726 litres of agrochemicals, 62,328.5 metric tonnes of inorganic fertilizers, 1,000kg fungicide, and 33,200nos equipment to farmers across different value chains.
In addition, he said the ministry received 2.15 million bags of fertilizer from the Central Bank of Nigeria for distribution to farmers free of charge.
He noted that interventions by the federal government in the agriculture sector has generated nearly 60,000 jobs in various rural economies.
On what becomes of the Anchor Borrowers Programmes (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Minister said the government is not throwing away the programme, but is picking the good aspects of it and learning from the mistakes made implementing the programme.