The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Senator Abubakar Kyari has disclosed that the agricultural sector injected N309billion into the economy in one year.
Reeling out achievements of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led achievements in the agricultural sector yesterday at a ministerial press briefing yesterday, the Minister said the sector raked N309million into the economy from the export of agricultural produce.
Other achievements include the distribution of 42,000 metric tonnes of grains across the country, the launch of dry season farming with cultivation of 118,657 hectares of wheat in 15 states in the acceleration of all year round farming, as well as the support of107,429 wheat farmers with inputs resulting in output of 474,628 metric tonnes.
Kyari further revealed that the federal government also procured and distributed to all states and FCT 58,500 metric tonnes of milled rice, to dampen escalating prices as well as fortify all crops with Vitamin A micro-nutrients to enrich the nutrition content and health value of food commodities.
To boost food production, Kyari said they distributed 60,432mt of improved seeds, 887,255mt seedlings, 138nos. 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 to enhance production.
He said the federal government is also in the process of distributing the 2.15million bags of fertilizer provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
To improve animal health, he said the ministry procured nd distributed14,056,467 doses of anthrax spore, foot and mouth diseases vaccines for risk-based vaccination exercise in 22 high-risk states located across the 6 geopolitical zones of the country.
He added that the government also established animal health centres and veterinary hospital as well as provided 6 micro earth dams and 8 boreholes, 164 milk collection centres, 8 cottage feed mills and 7 livestock centres.
On Pest and Disease control, he said they had put in place initiative for tackling ginger blight attack by disbursing N1.6 billion to support affected ginger farmers in Kaduna and Plateau states, saying the National Agriculture Development FUnd (NADF) had provided improved maize and sorghum seedlings as well as farm inputs to farmers in conjunction with Kaduna State Government.
He disclosed that a total of 18,000 bags of fertilizer and 61,250 assorted pesticides, fungicides was distributed.
The Minister further added that they also onducted aerial control operation of 1,030 flight hours in frontline states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara to mitigate trans-boundary pests.
To strengthen agricultural mechanization service in the country, he disclosed that Tinubu has approved the direct purchase of 2000 tractors from John Deere, an Agro-equipment manufacturing company.
The minister stated that 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 and added that the government is determined to ensure that farmers increase their production.
