As part of measures to combat food inflation in the country and as a direct response to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration, the Federal Government has officially flag-off the 2023/2024 dry season farming.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, who led several other dignitaries to Hadejia, Jigawa State, where the ceremony took place said the 2023/2024 dry season farming is boosted by an African Development Bank facility and implemented under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) project.
A statement by the Technical Advisor (Strategic Communication) to the Ministers of Agriculture, Mr. Kingsley Osadolor, stressed that the flag off has been enabled through a range of agricultural inputs subsidized by the federal government including seeds, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides, were delivered to farmers at the occasion.
The implementation is ICT-driven with earlier steps taken to geo-locate farmlands, enumerate, register, and cluster no fewer than 250,000 farmers.
The dry season farming is expected to take place in all the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
One critical requirement among others is availability of irrigable land where the dry season farming will take place.
The crops targeted for the 2023/24 season are wheat, seeds have been imported from Mexico; rice, maize, sorghum, soyabeans, and cassava.
Wheat farmers have been guaranteed off-take of their produce by the Flour Millers Association of Nigeria.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen Kyari, describes the flag-off as a milestone in realizing the Renewed Hope Agenda.
According to him, the availability of agricultural inputs and machinery will enhance the cultivation of about one hundred and twenty thousand hectares in different parts of the country.