The Department for International Development, the British government’s foreign aid agency,said on Wednesday that it would engage 20,000 farmers in Cross River State in 2018.


Dr. Jerry Lacey, the Team leader of DFID in Nigeria,stated this while interacting with journalists in Calabar, and added that Cross River State already had 33 per cent of DFID’s interest in the Niger Delta region.

The area of focus, according to Lacey, will be financial intervention to farmers for the expansion of agriculture, with emphasis on oil palm production and possibly the new direction of the state government, which is rice and banana production.

Cross River State was one of the front runners in the new Nigeria, said Lacey,because of its commitment to the core values of good governance and human integrity.

“If Cross River State must be an active player in the palm oil business, the state must restructure in line with what Indonesia has done with regard to palm oil export. We will accord the state the same assistance we gave to Indonesia.

“Over 9,000 people whom we are working with now are already in Cross River and about 10,000 to 20,000 would be Cross River State-based between now and 2018,” he said.

Lacey said that the key focus of the DFID in the Niger-Delta region was to develop agriculture, adding that the department’s major programme in the region at the moment had about 25,000 beneficiaries.

He commended Governor Ben Ayade for the pace-setting initiative in transforming the state, adding that the DFID would support his laudable efforts in that direction.