Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, has disclosed that the federal government’s Irrigate Nigeria Project, amongst other things, targets increase in income of farmers nationwide,
The NASENI EVC/CEO stated this at the launch of the irrigation initiative in Gamawa local government area of Bauchi state, Saturday, noting that the improved farming initiative would “help farmers to extend the number of farming rounds made possible in a year for each farming household, thereby increasing their incomes.”
Mr Suleiman Halilu said the goal of Irrigate Nigeria Project under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu administration essentially includes the transformation of entire Nigeria’s agriculture sector through provision of sustainable irrigation systems that empower farmers to achieve all year-round farming, and by extension increased productivity and reduced food prices.
He said amongst other things, the programme is jointly being implemented by NASENI and the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund (RHIDF) and also has the participation of private sector at the core of its operations in line with President Tinubu’s commitment to fully empower and enable Nigeria’s private sector with farmers to develop the nation’s agricultural sector.
Beginning with this pilot phase, Halilu explained that the Irrigate Nigeria Project kicked off on a 10-hectare land in Gamawa local government of Bauchi state under the public-private partnership (PPP) built on a large scale farming basis for the purpose of sustainability and more production.
To this end according to NASENI’s chief executive “the repayments by farmers for the support being provided will be in the form of convenient portions of their harvests, like rice paddy. These repayments will be pooled into a strategic food reserve that will help to stabilize commodity prices and also made available for institutional sale for export, and finally it has the objective of ensuring that Nigeria’s farmers are able to farm throughout the year regardless of the availability of rains while increasing the quantity and quality of harvests”
Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed of Bauchi expressed gratitude to the federal government for choosing Gamawa local government area as the first state to benefit from the initiative.