The Federal Government has expressed its determination to address the twin monster of hunger and poverty through the enhancement of food security.
This was disclosed by Dr William Obazi, a coordinator in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), Ebonyi Office on Wednesday in Abakaliki during the training and empowerment of 250 rural farmers from the state.
He said the programme, under the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Initiative (NPRGS), was a federal government initiative designed to tackle the rising food insecurity, hunger and poverty in the country.
He said that NPRGS was aimed at assisting farmers in Ebonyi to increase their production and reduce the poverty level adding that the initiative was in line with the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
According to him, the programme is targeting no fewer than 250 farmers drawn from the 13 Local Government areas of Ebonyi under three agricultural value chains including rice, aquaculture and poultry.
“Food security is a key element in the present government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, so, the essence is to make Nigeria food secure because it is believed that if these poor farmers are assisted food security objectives of the government will be achieved.
“Beneficiaries will go home with rice seedlings, birds, chemicals and liquid fertiliser among other facilities and the federal government is entirely responsible for the cost,” Obazi said.
The coordinator said that under the initiative, farmers benefitting from the empowerment programme were expected to expand their productivity and widen the scope of their income to be able to cater for the family needs and this was part of the reduction of poverty.
On security of the rural farmers, Obazi said that agro-rangers had been trained and deployed to provide security to rural farmers.
Meanwhile, Mrs Amaka Uyanwa, principal agricultural office, Federal Department of Agric Extension, FMAFS said that the whole initiative was geared towards ending food insecurity by equipping rural farmers with vital inputs and strategic knowledge to enhance productivity.
She said that the training aspect of the programme was to equip beneficiaries with more knowledge to create value addition to their chosen agricultural enterprise.
“The training will enable the farmers to understand marketing strategies and other aspects of the farming business so that they don’t just believe they can only do the production aspect of farming.
“The training will teach them how to market their produce and make money and after the training, we empower them,” Uyanwa said.
She added that each beneficiary would receive an empower item based on his or her chosen enterprise.
Two of the participants/beneficiaries, Mr Micheal Esheye and Mrs Eunice Obike from Ohaukwu and Afikpo South LGAs respectively in separate interviews commended the federal government for empowering the farmers with farm inputs.
They expressed optimism that the farm inputs would help them increase their productivity as well as widen their revenue scope.
They further pledged to make good use of the farm inputs and the knowledge gained from the training to increase yield.
