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The Kogi State Commissioner for Agriculture, Kehinde Oloruntoba has disclosed to the public the value-added-benefits accrued to the incubation of APPEALS in Nigeria.
In a statement signed by his media assistant, Dr Tolu Omotugba, he described the new agency as a ‘World Bank/ Federal Government Intervention Program’ which spreads across the 6 geo-political zones of the country with the north central office residing in Kogi State.
In a brief introduction, Bar. Oloruntoba Kehinde narrated how a loan to the tune of 200 million US dollars was taken from the world bank by the federal government to diversify economy in the area of Agriculture with 6 states being ear-marked as pilot-states and Kogi as the north central representative. According to him, “the intervention program is aimed at empowering youths and women in Agriculture and Agricultural value chains”.
“The state is adhering particularly to the cultivation of 3 staple crops – rice, cassava and cashew” he stated. “The federal government through APPEALS will be expected to cultivate farmlands and buy modular processing machines for the farmers along these 3 lines of crop” he continued.
Each of the participating states is expected to be given an initial grant of 10 million USD after which subsequent ability to draw out from the pool will be dependent on the effectiveness of the program in such states.
“The agency will soon commence recruitment of staffs to function in the Kogi office just as it is targeted to accommodate a workforce of at least 10,000 people” he remarked.
It is expected that major beneficiaries of this project will be community dwellers and farmers who are willing to exploit either of the 3 crops enlisted for Kogi State.
According to the Commissioner, the Ministry of Agriculture is expected to drive the activities of APPEALS for sustainability reason.
Mr Oloruntoba also reaffirmed the readiness of the Governor Yahaya Bello led government to exploit every opportunity that throws itself at them to revolutionize the Agric sector of the economy for the sake of boosting the state’s IGR and creating massive job opportunities.
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