Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has said his government will continue to support farmers in the State especially for Dry Season Farming.
The governor who made this pledge during an interview in Abuja after a courtesy visit on the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said the state is blessed with good arable land and the state government is passionate about helping farmers to produce more food for the citizens.
“We have always supported our farmers for Dry Season Farming, and we are going to do even more specifically with the request coming from the Minister,” he said, adding, “We are going to double our support. For instance, we just gave each local government 13,000 bags of fertiliser, we are now going to give them 26,000.”
He said one of the reasons the government is increasing its support to farmers is because the cost of living has gone up and the farmers are facing more challenges. According to him, “Mechanization requires a lot of investments. Most of the farmers are not financially capable to go into that, in our state, what we have done is to continue giving them support.”
He also said given the high food inflation in the country, the right thing to do in the interim is for the President to order the release of grains from the strategic grains reserve.
He was quick to add that the issue is not really about releasing food from the strategic reserve, “there are many people that are hoarding food, waiting for prices to rise,” he said.
“The National Security Adviser (NSA) during a recent meeting with the Governors said that the President has given a go ahead for him to go and check to make sure that people are not hoarding food and where such was found, the people should be penalised.”
Earlier during the meeting, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari requested that Nasarawa State should be ready to expand its support to farmers giving its investments in grains, legumes, and root crop cultivation.
He said, “When the Federal Government offered the 50 percent subsidies on agro-inputs during the take-off of the wheat production, there were reported cases across a number of states of farmers who were too indigent to pay their counterpart 50 percent in order to access the agro-inputs.
“A few states provided additional subsidies, while others assisted the farmers with land clearing and quality extension services. Yet others have invested in power tillers and solar-powered water pumps.
“It is interesting that, last year, NASENI laid the foundation for a solar cell production plant in Gora, Nasarawa State. It is our expectation that in due course the plant, when operational, will be the feeder for solar-powered pump needs in the immediate environment and beyond.”
He commended the governor for being at the forefront of the effort to ensure food security for the nation.