Adamu condemns talks-without-action, in agriculture

     Rt-Lt- NIAC Boss, MrsFolashade Joseph, Chairman, Senate AgricComm, Dr. AdamuAbdullahi&Chineese Investor& Chairman Eurobase, Mr. Don Ekesiobi

It was fireworks, and flaks literary flew as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Abdullahi Adamu, condemned the system that delights in what he describes as ‘talk-shows’ without corresponding action that should have followed. He spoke recently in Abuja while delivering a good will message at the consultative forum on national farmers’ empowerment programme, organized by the Agric ministry and Eurobase Consult limited.

He said the country spent too much time talking about agriculture with little results to show.
 “We have talked enough as a country on agriculture; we have lamented enough on agriculture. I do not want to be a prophet of doom. We have had workshops like this, seminars like this, where is the result?

“I don’t want to hear what I heard last year or what I heard when the budget is been defended, I want to hear that we have taken so many tractors to Benue, or we have taken so many  shelling machines to Lagos, Abia, Sokoto, or Kogi. We want to see how many hatcheries we have got now for these poultry farmers-that is what we want to see. That is what we want to use to measure,” he stressed.

He said that the 2017 planting season had already begun in most part of Nigeria, pointing out that what farmers need was something tangible, not promises.

“I said so because I am pained. I am part of this government. We know what monies we voted for, we know under what headings we voted money for,” the senate committee chairman on agriculture stated, stressing that with the commitment of this government, one would have expected farmers to go back cheering.

He noted that before the federal government took over the ministry of agriculture, the country had regional ministries of agriculture that were doing better and “we did make progress with agriculture. Everything we are saying today, we have done it yesterday. Every promise we are making today, it was implemented with result yesterday.”

Adamu, a former president of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) said: “I know this government means business wanting to reposition agriculture to the front banner so that we can be self-sufficient, so that the economy will be diversified. This cannot be achieved with this attitude to programmes of government.”

A leader of Youth in Agriculture Development & Awareness, Prince Michael Newgent  Ekamon  said he took exception to the fact the leaders were not at the gathering, asking: “why is the minister not here? He should have been here to tell what the government is doing to ensure success in the current planting season. This is farming season yet there is nothing to use to do the farming.”

When one of the reporters interjected that probably the youths were not interested in farming, he said:” It is a lie to say youths are not interested in farming. Let the government provide the youths with the inputs and see what happens.”