By Laleye Dipo
Despite being under attacks by insurgents, the senator representing Niger East Senatorial zone, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Musa, has said farmers in nine local government areas in the zone can feed the entire country.
The local governments are Munya, Shiroro, Rafi, Chanchaga, Paikoro, Suleja, Bosso, Gurara and Tafa with three of them facing bandits attacks almost on weekly basis.
Musa said while distributing 1,800 bags of assorted fertilizer to farmers in the zone in Minna, the state capital, on Monday that government has to provide the enabling environment for the farmers to perform to their optimum.
“Farmers in this zone alone has the capacity to feed the whole of Nigeria because it is blessed with vast arable land. The farmers in Niger East can also contribute immensely to boosting the economy of the country,” Musa said.
Represented by Alhaji Sule Bissala, a member of the Sani Musa Advisory Committee, the federal lawmaker however lamented the negative impact of insecurity on agricultural activities in the zone, saying: “There is an urgent need for the federal government to tackle the challenge once and for all.
“The federal government must find a lasting solution to the banditry problem bedevilling Niger East, so as to maximize the agricultural potentials of the area. There is no doubt that insecurity is a major clog in the wheel of progress of farmers in the area.”
Musa advised the people to judiciously make use of the fertilizer and also resist the temptation of selling the farm input.
Some of the beneficiaries of the gesture commended the senator for his continuous effort towards adding value to his constituents and urged him to continue to put smiles on the faces of people in his constituency.
Meanwhile, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Niger State has commenced the training of 100 youths in modern agriculture and marketing systems under its Sustainable Agricultural Development Training Scheme (SADTS).
The state Coordinator NDE, Alhaji Abdulmalik Liman Abubakar, said at the commencement of the programme that the scheme is aimed at creating jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the state.
Abubakar said the participants, who are mostly school certificate holders, were selected from 25 local government areas of the state.
