The Kogi State Government says it has, in the last three years made a lot of investments in various agricultural interventions to boost food production, create job opportunities for youths and women and tackle poverty in the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Kehinde Oloruntoba disclosed this while speaking on the score card of the Yahaya Bello-led government in the agricultural sub sector of the state.
He said on assumption of office, the government proceeded with the payments of the backlog of counterpart funds owed by the previous governments to enable farmers benefit from some of the approved agricultural schemes by the Federal Government and World Bank.
He said the ministry also embarked on the clearing of thousands of hectares of land in Omi, Dekina, Osara and other communities across the state to afford interested farms the opportunity to embark on large scale agricultural production.
“Knowing fully that its vision would be tasking to achieve without modernization, the government, without delay, ordered for 500 Fergus tractors with complete implements, mini harvesters, planters, broom sprayers, rice reapers and other similar equipment all procured to facilitate agricultural activities in the state.
“This effort so far has created over 15,000 jobs for the people. The payment of counterpart funds by the State government apparently contributed in no small measure to facilitating the following; clearing and cultivation of over 3,000 hectares of land for rice cultivation and another 5,000 hectares of land for cassava cultivation across the state.
“Additionally, there is an Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme (ADS) of the Central Bank of Nigeria which the government keyed into by releasing counterpart funds for the benefit of Kogi farmers.
“The Ministry of Agriculture has further constructed 500 fish ponds as a pilot scheme to be handed over to over 1,000 youths across the state in an effort to empower youths and vulnerable citizens”, Oloruntoba said.
He said in ensuring better productivity for farmers, the government took delivery of 76 trucks of inorganic fertilizer from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the State and sold them to farmers at a subsidized rate.
According to him, the government also, recently assembled and distributed about 1,500 tillers to small scale farmers in the state.
He said Kogi being a predominant place for cashew production has also ventured into acquiring 10,000 hectares of land and has granted free cashew seedlings to about 2,500 youths.
Credit: Daily Trust
