The Federal Government has approved a 50% reduction in the cost of agricultural inputs for farmers, aligning with the commencement of dry season farming, which kicked off last Saturday nationwide.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in a statement on Friday disclosed that the Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari, will lead the launch ceremony in Jigawa state.
According to the ministry, the event will not only mark the commencement of dry season farming but also involve the distribution of seedlings, herbicides, pesticides, and other inputs in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It restated the government’s commitment to supporting farmers by subsidizing essential agricultural inputs by half.
It further clarified: “The Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, will lead several other dignitaries to Hadejia, Jigawa State, where the ceremony will take place.
“A range of agricultural inputs, including seeds, fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides, will be delivered to farmers at the occasion. The Federal Government is subsidizing the agricultural inputs by 50 per cent”, the ministry added
The ministry indicated that the dry season farming initiative was getting the needed funding support from the African Development Bank (AfDB) through the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket project.
It expressed optimism that NAGS-AP project would leverage digital technology with geolocated and registered farmers already over 250,000 nationwide.
The ministry stated: “The implementation is ICT-driven with earlier steps taken to geo-locate farmlands, enumerate, register, and cluster no fewer than 250,000 farmers.”
Latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that Nigeria’s current food inflation currently stood currently at 31.5%, necessitating the need for government and its partners to boost food crops production in most cost-efficient ways.
