Agric Minister solicits support to correct infraction in wheat farming

 

The Minister, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security ( FMAFS), Sen. Abubakar Kyari has said there is a need for joint effort to forestall reoccurrence of any infraction being observed in the ongoing dry season wheat cultivation in fifteen states of Nigeria.

 

Sen. Abubakar Kyari stated this in a press statement issued yesterday by Mr. Eze Ikemufuna after a food security forum held in attendance with the Ministers of  Budget/Economic planning and Finance/ Coordinating, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu and Mr. Wale Edu respectively.

Kyari pointed in the press statement the need to chart an improved implementation strategy towards the second phase of rice, maize and cassava dry season cultivations using feedback from the ongoing wheat cultivations in the 15 states of the federation.

The release has the minister saying challenges in the wheat implementation process had resulted in the collective and comprehensive evaluation of the whole process to forestall lapses reoccurrence in the second phase cultivation as the statement added that all necessary machineries and strategies to address all observed challenges and infractions are already in place.

The Agric minister said further that " President Tinubu is supporting farmers with critical farm inputs for the production of the priority crops to stem down food prices with provision of institutional support for better performances and sustainability particularly in the areas of local production of wheat seeds.

It was stated that officers will be deployed to manage and coordinate the supply chain activities and  adhere strictly to the laid-down rules and guiding principles.

"The ICT platform providers are to deploy the best and reliable system that can capture and trace all the transactions under the agro-pocket, being the primary purpose government decided to utilize technology in the inputs delivery process to promote transparency, accountability and easy tracking of the impacts and performance’’ stated the statement.

The Minister charged the input producers of fertilizers, seeds, agro-chemicals to ensure that the products supply meet with the prescribed set standards in terms of quantity and quality, the input distributors or agro-dealers are to sell only certified and approved products from the registered input producers.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edu in the statement underscored the importance President Tinubu attached to food security in view of a substantial intervention fund he made available to produce more grains and cassava in order to bring down prices of food with dry season farming.

Also the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu in the press release said that " Nigeria agricultural space is one of the most elastic in the world. Every cropping season can produce a miracle if there is more investment in the sector"