GOV EMMANUEL FLAGS OFF 40 HECTARES CASSAVA PROJECT

ONNA-Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa-Ibom State weekend flagged off the planting of 40 hectares Cassava FADAMA-111 Additional Financing Intervention Project as part of his administration's bold steps to diversify the economy of the state from petroleum to agriculture and create jobs for the unemployed ones.
The FADAMA-111 Additional Financing Project which is a programme of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Abuja, it was gathered, has Akwa-Ibom as one of the six core states to benefit from the #200 Million doled our by the federal government to support full value chain in cassava, tomato, rice and sorghum planting.
Governor Emmanuel explained that his administration decided to give priority to agriculture not only to diversify the economy from petroleum but to empower the people of the state on a more sustainable basis than what was the case before.
"We have depended on oil over the years and at the end of the day, I keep asking, if the empowerment programmes for how many years now had really worked, then, why is it that after about 30 days, people are broke and faced with a situation where the empowerment money had disappeared?
"This is because we had not developed our value chain properly. So, today, I am trying to see how I can develop a full core value chain for the state in agriculture, in education, in everything.
"As I am talking, even in education, I have just given orders to the SA on Technical Education that in the next 12 months, we should be able to produce pencils that are used in schools so that we should be able to create jobs and wealth for our people.
"Besides, there is no country in the world today that says it is a developed nation that did not conquer food first. If you don't conquer food, you are not ready for development. So, the first point of development is to till the soil", the governor stressed.
He however advised the farmers to improve on the quality of their farm produce so as to serve as sources of raw materials to industries.
Speaking at the occasion, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Peter Ajibade, said the Federal Government has approved #200M to support full value chain in cassava, rice, tomato and sorghum to encourage states with the potentials to meet the expected value chains to help realise the objective of providing food for the nation.
"It is on this note that I rejoice with Governor Udom Emmanuel for flagging off this additional finance cassava intervention project in Akwa-Ibom State. This implies that very soon, this state will not only feed itself but will support the neighbouring states", he remarked.
Also speaking, the FADAMA National Programme Coordinator, Dr. Gbenga Olukoya described the FADAMA-111 Additional Financing Project as a game changer in agricultural development noting that rather than the old system of subsistence agriculture, the additional financing was looking at the totality of the agricultural commodity value chain as well as the issue of clusterisation of farmers.
"We look at agriculture right now as a business which is why the additional instrument which is additional financing, has gone beyond the former FADAMA project to a business plan. Now, farmers are given head starts in agriculture business, they have the capacity to negotiate market, the capacity to negotiate prices, to determine what prices their commodities will be at the end of the day. It is no longer a situation where somebody or people with big money out there would come and buy over these farmers and at the end of the day, they become losers", he said.
Dr. Olukoya informed that initially, only six states were involved in the FADAMA programme but now, the additional financing has gone beyond six states with Akwa Ibom being one of the earliest states to apply for additional financing by paying its counterpart fund when the door was opened.
According to him, in appreciation of the special interest the Akwa Ibom State Government has shown in the project, from the pool of #200M in the FADAMA Additional Financing, the state can get as much as it needs from that big pool of money that is there for the farmers so as to encourage the people of the state to go into agriculture business.
"In the FADAMA Project, we have several of our commodities that are already packaged and exported. Akwa Ibom is also one of the states we are grooming to have FADAMA Micro Finance Bank. We have one in Plateau State and we expect that Akwa Ibom will be the next state to have the FADAMA Micro Finance Bank to support farmers in the state", he further informed.
In his address, the Akwa-Ibom State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Mathew Ekaette said the policy of the state on agriculture was hinged on mitigating food scarcity and since cassava is a staple food, the cassava intervention project would help to boost food sufficiency by bringing down the market price of staple foods like garri and fufu by at least, 50 percent within the next two years.
More so, the commissioner expressed optimism that the policy would help to create employment and additional income through cassava value-chain, processing and marketing as well as promote cooperative activities and the production of cassava in clusters, invest and encourage the use of improved and high-yielding cuttings through partnership with reputable agencies and encourage private sector initiative for the processing of high-quality cassava flour as substitutes for wheat flour and ethanol bio-fuel production.
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