The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has declared Yobe as the most affordable state to live in and commute to other parts of the country.

The Bureau attributed the low costs of living to the state’s falling inflation rate from 13.5% to 11.43%, while food inflation continued to decrease from 17.9% in June to 15.1% in July 2025. These were revealed in the Bureau’s July 2025 Report released to newsmen on Saturday in Damaturu, the state capital.

“The State’s Agricultural Empowerment Programme (SAEP) has impacted the productivity of over 5,300 farmers to generate more incomes by flooding the markets with last year’s crop harvests.”

The Report added that the SAEP, launched by Vice President Kashim Shettima along with Governor Mai Mala Buni, has wooed many youths and women into the agricultural sector in boosting food security and employment in the state.

The Bureau added that the generated incomes of farmers are being invested in this year’s cropping season while targeting the irrigation farming projects in the Kumadugu/Yobe River Basins comprising Bade, Geidam, Bursari communities, and the Nguru wetlands.

The distributed farm inputs included tractors, harvesters, disc ploughs and harrows, land tillers, fertilizers, and dozens of solar-powered irrigation pumps and pesticides.

“The agricultural empowerment initiative aims to make agriculture more attractive and affordable in sustaining the state’s economic growth and development.

The success of the Buni administration’s agricultural drive underscores the potential of targeting agricultural investments to ensure food security in reducing the costs of living and commuting in the state,” concludes the Report.