*The Presidency announces the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is set to release 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted food items currently being bagged to support the vulnerable population across the country

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

The Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is in the final stages of releasing 42,000 metric tonnes (MT) of several food items to support the vulnerable population in Nigeria.

绿帽献妻 reports Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, who disclosed this development in an update released Friday, February 23, 2024, noted the grains, in seven locations of strategic reserve, are now being bagged and stacked for onward delivery to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Onanuga stated: “The need to bag the grains, caused the delay as the bags were freshly ordered by government.

“Nigerians will not need to pay for the grain bags, as they are free.”

The government also said the efforts would be complemented by the 60,000 metric tonnes of milled rice to be purchased by the Federal Government from the Mega Rice Millers.

Quoting Senator Abubakar Kyari, Honourable Minister for Agriculture, the Presidential aide noted in view of the announcement of the impending releases of food commodities from聽 the Strategic Reserve, there is already a noticeable reduction in commodity prices across major grains markets in the country.

The Federal Government is also ramping up food production by boosting Dry Season Farming under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project, Onanuga stated.

He recalled the First Phase of the Dry Season Farming was launched November 2023.

On the objective of the agricultural project, the Federal Government restated that it is focused on cultivation of wheat across 15 wheat-producing states, covering 118,657 hectares and involving 107,429 farmers.

The Minister said: “The fields are green now and harvest will commence in a matter of weeks.

鈥淭here are fantastic reports of growth of wheat from Jigawa State, which is now targeting harvest from about 50,000 hectares, 10,000 hectares more than initially allotted under the programme.”

He also stated that Phase 2 of the Dry Season Farming will commence soon, across all 36 states of Nigeria and FCT, and it will cover rice, maize, and cassava.

鈥淔or rice, the target is 250,000 hectares involving 500,000 farmers with the expected output of 1 million metric tonnes of paddy rice.

鈥淔or maize, we are cultivating 55,000 hectares with 110,000 farmers thereby adding 165,000 metric tonnes to national maize production while for cassava, we are doing 35,000 hectares with 70,000 farmers to produce 525,000 metric tons of cassava,” Kyari noted.

The Minister further stated: “The NAGS-AP Project offers a 50% subsidy. However, the Federal Government is providing additional support for Phase 2, which will bring aggregate subsidy to about 93 %聽 to farmers cultivating the crops.

鈥淎lso various governors are showing strong support, to further enhance the subsidy.”

The government said aside from these, it is providing solar-powered water pumps for irrigation, currently being deployed to aid the upcoming phase of the programme across the country.

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