By Stanley Onyekwere
As part its measures to bolster food security, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has flagged-off the 2023 farming season with the distribution of assorted agricultural inputs to farmers in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Performing the official flag-off on Friday, the FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, noted that it is in aligning with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda, that the FCTA made the provision of inputs an integral aspect of its agricultural development programmes.
Aliyu said: “You will recall that the last time this event took place in the FCT was in 2019. No thanks to the End SARS protest which resulted in the theft of most of the inputs that were procured and earmarked for distribution to farmers. During the protest, almost all our warehouses were vandalized which stalled efforts of the Secretariat to organize the event in 2022.
“However, over the past year, the Administration has been able to carry out a total overhaul of the various warehouses and constructed additional structures to increase their capacity to contain as many inputs as possible.
“In the same vein, the budgetary provision for the procurement of agricultural inputs has been increased from N200 million in 2021 to a whooping N2billion in the 2023 budget which has been utilized to procure fertilizers and non-fertilizer inputs such as Irrigation equipment, mechanized farm implements, Agro- chemicals as well as assorted improved seedlings.
“Furthermore, a total of 970 MT of NPK, 750 MT of Urea, 6,000 liters of liquid fertilizers have been purchased. All the products are to be sold to farmers at the 50% subsidized rates as approved by the FCT Administration”.
She adds: “In order to ensure that the inputs reach the targeted farmers, I have issued a directive to the Agriculture & Rural Development Secretariat to ensure that the Fertilizer Distribution Committee expands its scope of distribution to reach out to more farmers. Our primary focus is to ensure that Cooperative societies, Area Council authorities, 17 chiefdoms, SWOFON (Women Farmers), Sarkin Noma’s in the 62 wards of FCT, vulnerable groups as well as known individual farmers are captured in the list.
“Let me however make it clear that the inputs that were purchased were not only for crop farming. A substantial amount of the funds were expended on the procurement of inputs for the fisheries, livestock., veterinary and forestry development.
“You will agree with me that much as agricultural inputs remain critical to boosting agricultural production, also of immense significance, is the issue of knowledge of Good Agronomic Practices (GAP). It is in this regard that the Administration has over the years, tried to invest in knowledge acquisition by organizing programmes that will expose farmers to innovations that are more efficient”.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Mr. Olusade Adesola noted that the world today is threatened by food crisis exacerbated by population growth, conflicts and Climate Change, whicjh according to the United Nations, global hunger is at a record high with the number of people that are food insecure growing astronomically.
According to him: “It is on this premise that I would like to start by stressing the importance of the initiative of annual provision of inputs to farmers, as strategic in strengthening the capacity of our food production systems to meet the yearnings of any society.
“It is in line with this objective that the FCT Administration has over the years, increased the budgetary allocation to the agricultural sector and I want to say that the support that we are giving farmers today is so far, the highest in the history of the Federal Capital Territory. Credit for this must however go to the Honorable Minister of State, FCT for being at the forefront of advocating for better funding for the sector.
“Most times, particularly in Nigeria, when we talk about agriculture, what easily comes to mind is the availability of input, specifically fertilizers, but beyond that, are equally pertinent issues such as capacity building. This is an area which the Administration is giving attention to ensure that our farmers are availed with useful information that will help to enhance food production not just in terms of quantity but quality.
“Part of our priorities with the ease of doing business initiative which we have given an impetus, is to create the enabling environment for residents and potential investors to take advantage of the abundant agro-business investment opportunities that abound in the FCT. It is gladdening to note that this initiative is already yielding the desired results as can be seen in the robust agricultural activities that are taking place in the Territory.
“An indication that the FCT Administration is moving in the right direction is the 2022 Food Security Analysis Report which shows a reduction of over 30% in the population of food insecure households from about 349,876 in October 2021 to 233,233 as at November 2022”, he said.
Earlier in his address of welcome, the Secretary Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS), Mallam Abubakar Ibrahim said the initiative is no doubt a reaffirmation of the commitment of the present Administration’s efforts at revitalizing the agricultural sector especially in the aspect of supporting the activities of farmers by enhancing their access to affordable agricultural inputs.
He said: “We are optimistic that with the very large quantity of inputs that have been procured for distribution, the FCT will be witnessing a bumper harvest this year. Our projection on the outcome of this support is an improvement of up to 30% in the food insecurity situation in the Federal Capital Territory.
“For today’s event, allocation letters will be distributed to some of the beneficiaries who will pick their inputs here while other farmers will have to present authentic allocation letter with evidence of payment to redeem their products at the designated warehouses located in Gwagwalada, Tungan-Maje, Gwagwa, Kwali, Karshi, Abaji and Kwali”.
