PRESS RELEASE - FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMMENDS THE IJEBU DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE ON POVERTY REDUCTION AND ADVISES OTHER STATES TO EMULATE IN AGRICULTURAL INITIATIVES.

THE HON MINISTER OF STATE,AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT,SENATOR HEINEKEN LOKPOBIRI WITH THE DELEGATION  OF  THE IJEBU DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE ON POVERTY REDUCTION  LED BY THE CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE INITIATIVE, PROF. OLANIPEKUN ALAUSA WHEN THE LATTTER PAID  A COURTESY VISIT  TO THE MINISTER IN ABUJA.

                                                   

The Federal Government has commended the Ijebu Development Initiative on Poverty Reduction ( IDIPR) for contributing to fish production in the country and advised other states to emulate the community’s agricultural initiative.

 The Federal Government through the Minister of State, Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri stated this when a delegation of  the Ijebu Development Initiative on Poverty Reduction  led by the Chairman, Board of Directors of the initiative, Prof. Olanipekun Alausa paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.

The Minister who described Ijebu community as a pride of Africa in the production of fish, said “When we came last two years, Nigeria was producing about 700,000 tonnes of fish but this has increased to about 1.1 million tonnes which means that there has been an increment of 400 tonnes and the rise in the statistics was attributed to the contribution of Ijebu community.

The Minister quoted the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as saying that Ijebu community had the highest number of fish clusters in the world and expressed happiness that other communities like Bayelsa people were coming to Ijebu community to learn fish farming for them to leverage on their water bodies.

According to the Minister, the current deficit in fish in Nigeria is over two million tonnes and urged citizens to invest to boost fish production and create jobs in the agriculture sector, “Federal Government has mandate  to increase investments in Agriculture as alternative to oil and we are ready to support all farmers”, he stated.

The Minister stated “We realized that fish import is no more sustainable and what we did was to encourage those that import it to think of the backward integration by reducing the quota year by year in agreement with the CBN. Very soon, we are not going to give quota for fish importation. We want everybody to set up their fish farms, employ our people and create jobs for our people”.

He noted that the biggest challenge facing Agriculture in Nigeria is the high interest rate and stated that   the Bank of Agriculture has been restructured to enable lending to farmers at single digit rate as well as compete favorably with commercial banks.  

He said the government would soon complete and commission the fish feed mill located at Eriwe village farm in Ijebu community of Ogun state while appreciable   number of smoking kilns would be given to them   to boost their fish production.

Earlier in his remarks, Prof. Olanipekun Alausa, the Chairman, Board of Directors of the initiative, listed some challenges hindering the agricultural initiative to include lack of infrastructure such as rural roads ; inadequate access to loans and lack of modern agricultural tools for mechanized farming among others.

“We want provision of access roads in the farm villages, access to direct credit and government’s grants toward our poverty reduction programme.  The change in the life of the poor is visible as the needs and well-being of women and other disadvantaged groups in our community are being met.  Hundreds of young graduates now see agriculture as a thriving business and cluster innovation farming platform has been proved beyond doubt that it is capable of making fortune,’’ the chairman stated.

He said the scheme, which was established in 1999 as a non-governmental organization, was geared toward community development to reduce poverty and improve the livelihood of people, using agriculture and micro-credit among others was involved in poultry,  livestock, piggery, bee-keeping, all season vegetables , cocoa farming among others  to ensure poverty reduction and contribute to agricultural development of the country. The Chairman  said the initiative which has   691 number of cooperative societies farming on 639 hectares of farm land was currently supplying food items to nine local government areas in the state and  appealed for more support from the Federal Government to enhance the initiative’s performance.

Muhammad Tahir Zakari MFR

For: Ag Director Information.