The Kogi Government says it will engage over 100,000 youths in various crops value chains under its Accelerated Agricultural Production programme this year.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Kehinde Oloruntoba, said this at a ministerial media briefing in Lokoja on Wednesday.
The briefing was organised by the Bureau of Information Services and Grassroots Sensitisation, in collaboration with the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Oloruntoba listed various agricultural programmes of the state government, saying they all were aimed at attaining food sufficiency, economic diversification and agribusiness policy thrust of the Federal Government.
“Over 100,000 youths are to be fully engaged in various aspects of agriculture. It is against this backdrop that the allocation to Agriculture in this year’s budget was increased to N9 billion from N7.9 billion in 2017,’’ he said.
Besides, Oloruntoba said that 135 farmers would be supported with N4.2 million each to start poultry farms, in preparation for the soon-to-commence National School Feeding Programme in the state.
He added that the poultry development scheme was also part of the Federal Government’s Egg Production Programme.
“We want to produce our eggs and chickens here because we are starting the National School Feeding Programme soon,” he said.
Oloruntoba said that Kogi was already the leading cassava producing state in Nigeria, producing over four million tonnes of cassava, out of the country’s total production stock 54 million tonnes.
He said that the state was, by extension, the number one cassava producing region in the world.
“The state intends to improve on the production of cassava, rice and cashew in the 2018 planting season.
“In view of this, about 4,200 hectares of land, comprising 200 hectares in each of the 21 local government areas of the state, have been earmarked for the production and enhancement of the cassava value chain.
“The Aloma Oil Palm plantation will be rehabilitated and expanded with over 1,000 hectares of available land,’’ he said.
Oloruntoba said that Kogi would launch its “Confluence Fish’’ brand in the next six months, saying that the fish would be grown and packaged in the state for the Nigerian market.
“We have abundant water resources and we have decided to start exploiting these resources. 1,000 youths would be engaged as fish farmers with 1,000 earthen ponds.
“The project will run at pilot level with 2,500 fingerlings per pond and will be located in one local government in each of the three senatorial districts of the state,’’ he said.
Oloruntoba also said that the state had started the domestication of the Federal Government’s Agriculture Sector Food Security and Nutrition Strategy (ASFSN), as part of efforts to fast-track nutrition-sensitive agricultural practice.
He said that another set of 1,000 youths would be empowered to engage in vegetable farming.
Earlier, Mr Abdulkarim Abdulmalik, the Director-General, State Bureau of Information Services and Grassroots Sensitisation, said that the media briefing was aimed at disseminating information on government activities, policies and programmes to the citizens, particularly those at the grassroots. (NAN)
