The Anambra State government has promised to assist farmers affected by the ravaging floods, to sustain the food supply in the State.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Foster Ihejiofor, who disclosed this at a press conference held in Awka on Sunday to commemorate this year’s 2022 World Food Day, said the government will assist the affected farmers by providing the necessary farm tools and crop seedlings to enable them return to their farms with ease at the end of the flooding.
He stressed that this year’s commemoration is coming at the time the flood had devastated several farmlands in various parts of Anambra State, especially the agrarian areas.
He noted that it also occurred at a time that the country’s agriculture sector is experiencing a downturn as a result of the menace.
Ihejiofor said Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s Agro-Economic Transformation Agenda is aimed at building a secure economic future for the citizens by re-enacting Dr M. I Okpala’s Oil Palm Revolution, Creation of the Anambra Coconut Economy and Valorization of our redundant vegetative ecosystem.
“We just completed the first phase of the oil palm Revolution and Coconut economy by distributing 220,000 oil palm seedlings and 150,000 Coconut seedlings to Ndi-Anambra for agricultural development.
“This is just the first phase of the project, as the state government intends to plant one million oil palm and Coconut seedlings annually.
“Indeed, the state ministry of Agriculture is assiduously working to acqualise Soludo’s vision of a liveable, prosperous and smart mega city with food security, food as medicine, food safety and abundant local content for industrial raw materials and local content for commercial activities.
“More importantly, most of our farmers have made a swift transition from season farming to all-year-round farming with increasing use of irrigation and the adoption of global best practices in agriculture.
“Our partnerships with major agro investors, have been hugely successful, drawing the attention of the entire agricultural establishment in Nigeria to Anambra State, he added.
He unveiled that the state government has set the stage for integrating composting centres to host the production unit for black soldier fly, mushroom and effective microorganisms.
The commissioner appealed to well-to-do Nigerians to continue to render assistance to the flood victims, especially farmers, to enable them to return to their farms immediately after the flooding.