WorldStage Newsonline– The Federal Government of Nigeria in collaboration with Cross River has subsidised inputs for 500 farmers to produce 500 metric tonnes of wheat in Obudu Local government area of the state.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari made the disclosure during the distribution of the inputs to the farmers in Obudu on Saturday.
Kyari said that both governments took the decision to subsidise the inputs by paying 75 and 25 percent respectively to spare the farmers the pains of sourcing funds.
Represented by Mr Jessem Ubi, Chief Administrative Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, the minister said that the wheat cultivation was under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) programme.
According to him, while the government committed N167m for the 500 wheat farmers in Obudu, the Cross River government paid N56m, representing 75 and 25 per cent respectively.
“This payment also includes footing the bill for land preparation for the wheat farmers and the farmers are expected to cultivate an hectare each,” he explained.
In his remarks on behalf of Cross River, the Special Adviser on Agriculture to the governor, Prof. John Shiyam, said that the 500 hectares cultivated by the 500 farmers will be harvested between 85 to 90 days from now.
He further said that a lot of effort was put in place for harrowing and irrigation of the land for the 500 hectares.
“A lot of farmers could not afford to pay the 25 per cent requirement, hence the reason for the state government intervention.
“We have concluded plans to cultivate 3000 hectares by July during the rainy season, the 500 hectares is for the dry season and we are doing this through irrigation.
“We already have a flour mill in Calabar who before now went as far as Kano and other northern states for wheat. There is also the Nigeria Brewery, ” Shiyam said.
On his part, the state chapter Chairman of Wheat Farmers Association, Mr Alina Peters, stated that the federal government has given each of their members two bags of fertiliser and improved seeds for cultivation.
Peters added that the state governor also assisted his members in ploughing and harrowing the land.
The input including fertilisers, seeds, agro chemicals were given to each of the 500 farmers.
