Abia governor promises to accelerate agric development

Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has said the state government has evolved programmes and policies, which will be applied in the agricultural sector to stimulate agro-industrial revolution.

Ikpeazu made this known on Saturday night while interacting with newsmen at the Government House, Umuahia, on the performance of his administration so far.

He said: “We are going to increase our tempo in agriculture because we intend to stir up an agro-based industrial revolution in Abia.

“We want to improve the economy of each local government council in Abia by establishing cottage processing mills for rice, cassava and oil palm.”

Ikpeazu said that the state government was committed to improving the welfare of the people and enhance food security in the state.

He said that government was working towards building an agro-allied industrial estate to make Abia a value addition hub in agriculture.

Ikpeazu also said that government intended to facilitate an increase in oil palm production by raising three million Tenera seedlings to be distributed to farmers.

Similarly, although Abia State has put in place a policy to increase rice production, it would not export for now.

This was the position of the governor when he commissioned the Acha Rice Processing Mill with De-Stoner established under the state Agro Processing Revolution programme.

According to him, “Abia government is working towards establishing a cassava economy by acquring a processing plant that would process cassava tubers to starch of pharmaceutical grade.”

He said that government spent N48 million to train 200 youths in modern agricultural methods and techniques, which would be a critical propeller of its development agenda.

On Education, Ikpeazu said that the state government had successfully built 340 new classroom blocks in 2018 and was focusing on building the capacity of teachers in state-owned schools.

He said that a Continued Education Center had been built for teachers and that efforts were being made to ensure that teachers in Abia would be Information and Communication Technology compliant.