Minister says update of farmers’ database will increase food productivity

* NAQS, FMITI emphasise on standard

The Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) has begun the process of updating the database of farmers and improvement of all agricultural related institutions as a means to increase the productivity of food system that will meet the growing population demand aspiration, says the Minister of state, Dr. Ramatu Aliyu.

This FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Aliyu disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the Agribusiness Innovation Conference and Expo held in Abuja last week Tuesday.

Aliyu said that the updating of the farmer's database would enhance inputs provision along with adequate extension services towards increased food production to efficiently cater for the daily increasing population in the FCT and its environment.

She pointed at some challenging areas as lack of information on best agricultural practices, insufficient financial support and access to inputs, inadequate storage and processing facilities, pest infestation, and access to markets, adding that the FCT administration is passionate to overcome these challenges with proactive strategies to restoring the agricultural sector to its prime glory.

The strategies according to her include-‘’ keying into the various Nigerian Government Agricultural initiatives such as the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS), the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), amongst others adding that  “On the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) funded AADS, all the six Area Councils of the FCT, and participating farmers and off-takers have been fully mobilized and are ready for the take-off  at the start of the 2021 dry season farming”

An invited Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture, from Texas USA, Mr. Sid Miller in line with the minister said the panacea to the increasing growth of population in the world is to advance food productivity using improved technologies for farming and processing towards a better product for markets, saying that ‘’ as the population of Nigeria is growing, also the population in the United States is growing, so we need more and more food to grow in order to meet our needs’’  

Also, the Director General (DG) Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) Dr. Vincent Isegbe in his remark stressed the need for adoption of improved technologies that would advance productivity to meeting external markets’ standards, saying farmers need to work as cooperative in order to access government facilities for more economic earnings.

The Director, Commodity and Export Department (CED), Federal Ministry Industry and Trade (FMITI) Mr. Suleman Adebayo Audu who represented the Permanent Secretary emphasized the need for food sufficiency productivity to checkmate import bills, and not turning Nigeria into a dumping ground, saying there is need for quality products for acceptability in the foreign markets as more investments are being attracted into the country.

  Audu hammered on the need for partnership and synergy among the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) towards ensuring the promotion of made in Nigeria products across the shore of the country in the global markets.

The convener of the event, Hon. Emeka Ebo said the conference interface is a window created to galvanize wealth for farmers through the adoption of modern technologies towards achieving increment in food productivity with industry actively playing a private sector role in the economy and government supporting in terms of funding to harness the massive land potential to cultivate more to meet the food demand of 200 million population in Nigeria.

Ebo stressed that agriculture should be taken seriously for more jobs and wealth creation adding the sector could be used to address the challenges of insecurity in the country.