Kogi state government has earmarked N50 million for the cultivation of 4,000 hectares of cassava across the state this year as part of efforts to boost food production.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Zacchaeus Atteh, disclosed this during the 2015 budget defence at the state House of Assembly in Lokoja.
According to him, apart from meeting the cassava needs of the people, the state government saw its investments in the agricultural sector as a means of providing jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the state.
He added that the ministry had also proposed the sum of N325 million for the staple crop processing zone at Alape, Kabba-Bunu local government of the state.
On the commercial agricultural scheme, the commissioner said government had completed arrangements to disburse N750 million to over 10,000 farmers in the state to boost agricultural production and increase income level of farmers.
He said the capital expenditure of the ministry this year stands at N2.9 billion while its recurrent expenditure proposals stands at N878.6 million with overhead cost of N39.4 million and a total revenue proposal of N56.6 million.
On the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the state, the commissioner said the essence of the agenda is to ensure that farmers treated agriculture as a business with technical and business sense tailored towards profitability.
