To increase output and improve national food security, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has started farming during the 2023–2024 dry season.
Aiming to irrigate 200,000–250,000 hectares of fertile land, the project is expected to yield 1.25 million tonnes of wheat.
“Today’s farming event is a response to President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of emergency on national food security,” stated Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, during the weekend’s unveiling of the irrigation plan in Gashua, Yobe state. The countrywide Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) project is in charge of implementing countrywide irrigated farming.
He predicted that Yobe’s dry-season farming would flourish in the Wachakal and Kumadugu/Yobe River Basins, which include the Nguru Wetlands. Furthermore, the minister stated that the federal government has provided a 50% subsidy for the distributed farm supplies, which include various fertilizers, enhanced seeds, and pesticides.
“Farm inputs have been provided to farmers around the state for distribution. Depending on the amount of arable land that needs to be watered to produce wheat, each of them will receive seven bags of NPK and liquid fertilizers, two bags of enhanced wheat seeds, and liters of insecticide.”
He said, “A monitoring implementation team has been set up in each of the wheat-producing states,” adding that the team’s tasks included assessing everything from crop harvests in different state river basins to land preparation.
Isa Mai Unguwa spoke on behalf of other farmers, lamenting that even though he produced 3,000 bags of rice annually, he had never benefited from agriculture input subsidies provided by the federal and state governments.
