Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, has said his ministry will provide more farm inputs to farmers in areas not directly affected by flood to boost production.

Adesina disclosed this in Abuja, when he received members of the House Committee on Agriculture on an oversight function to the ministry. 

The minister said the “double-up production plan”,  was designed for states not affected by the flood to boost food production.

“We give farmers in areas that are not affected directly by the floods with higher quantities of seeds and fertilisers so they can produce food in their own states and enhance the food supply of their own states.

“For the farmers that are not touched by the floods in other states, we are going to provide them with a lot seeds, a lot fertilisers to do what we call double-up production. That will allow us to raise food production, put it in our strategic grain reserve and have food that we can distribute to areas that are affected,” he said.

Adesina affirmed that there was no food crisis: “I am very confident that we will deal with this situation; it’s a shock in our system but we are not in a food crisis at all.”

The minister also said the Federal Government would provide improved farm inputs after the flood receded in affected areas, adding that government would also ensure that more farmers were registered under the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) free of charge.

“We are going to provide improved seeds and fertilisers for them, all will be by the Federal Government free of charge for all the farmers that are affected. And we are going to get those farmers registered unto the GES platform so that we know who they are because we can’t have a situation where stuff are given out and people are taking them and they are not farmers; that is why we are doing the GES. We would know who is getting them, how much they are getting and where they are located,” he said.

He assured that the Agricultural Transformation Agenda would be successfully implemented.

Adesina had recently said that the Federal Government had resolved to set up a Flood Recovery Production Plan to support farmers in the flood affected areas.

He also said the Federal government had mobilised from within and outside Nigeria over 20,000 metric tonnes of rice seeds, enough to plant over 400,000 hectares of farm lands in the flood-ravaged areas.

Earlier, Hon. Mohammed Tahir, Chairman of the Committee, said the visit was to ensure that the legislature and executive arms of government meet up to their responsibilities.