The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development says it will provide more farm inputs to farmers in areas not directly affected by the flood to boost production.
Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, the Agric Minister, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja when he received members of the House Committee on Agriculture on an oversight function to the ministry.
Akinwunmi said that the “double up production plan” was designed for states not affected by the flood to boost food production.
“Double up production plan; that is we give farmers in areas that are not affected directly by the floods with higher quantities of seeds and fertilisers so they can produce food in their own states and made the food supply of their own states.
“And the fourth one are the farmers that are not touched by the floods in other states. So, we are going to provide them with a lot more seeds, a lot more fertilisers to do what we call double up production. That will allow us to raise food production, put it in our strategic grain reserve and have food that we can distribute to areas that are affected.
‘’I am very confident that we will deal with this situation; it’s a shock in our system but we are not in a food crisis at all.”
The minister also said that the Federal Government would provide improved farm inputs after the flood receded in affected areas, adding that government would also ensure that the farmers were registered under the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) free of charge.
“We are going to provide improved seeds and fertilisers for them, all will be by the Federal Government free of charge for all the farmers that are affected.
“And we are going to get those farmers registered unto the GES platform so that we know who they are because we can’t have a situation where stuff are given out and people are taking them and they are not farmers; that is why we are doing the GES.
“We would know who is getting them, how much they are getting and where they are located.’’
Adesina complained about the late release of budgetry allocations, which he said, was a major challenge to the execution of projects in the sector.
He, however, assured that the Agricultural Transformation Agenda would be successfully implemented.
Earlier, Hon. Mohammed Tahir, Chairman of the committee, said that the visit was to ensure that the legislative and executive arms of government meet up to their responsibilities.
“Our visit to this ministry is in pursuant to a resolution first by the House of Representative directing all its committees to go out and verify the level of implementation of the 2012 Appropriation Act and more particularly as it affects the capital aspect of the budget.
“This resolution was passed by the House having observed that the capital aspect of the budget, which positively impacts on the living standard of the Nigerian people, year in year out, is not being properly implemented by the executive arm of government.’’
He also said that the Federal government had mobilised from within and outside Nigeria over 20,000 metric tonnes of rice seeds, enough to plant over 400,000 hectares of farm lands in the flood-ravaged areas.
