Gombe’s Commitment to Food Security

Segun Awofadeji reports on efforts by Gombe State government to support farming activities, thereby ensuring food security

Every economic system is built on the basis of agriculture. Apart from the fundamental role of providing food and raw material, agriculture also provides employment opportunities to a large number of the population, and it’s the only sector that absorbs both literate and illiterate population in large numbers.

In his 2019 campaign manifesto, Agriculture was among what Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya promised to prioritise during his campaigns. He pledged to work based on the promises he made to the people of the state.

“As the mainstay of our economy that engages over 75 per cent of our population, we would accord priority to agricultural development in efforts to diversify the economy and ensure food security. Consequent upon this, we shall ensure a timely and adequate supply of farming inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides, seeds, etc. as well as provide agricultural credit facilities to our farmers.”

According to him, “From available information, the immediate past administration has deliberately refused to procure fertiliser and other necessary farm inputs for distribution to our farmers. I, therefore, will direct the Ministry of Agriculture to work out modalities to promptly address the issue to avoid a looming but avoidable catastrophe. I urge all of us to embrace agriculture, the surest way to employment and poverty reduction in our society.”

It was a promise made that is being fulfilled under the Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya administration. This sector has been receiving adequate and desired intervention to improve it; and the promises made on the sector are being satisfactorily fulfilled.

The state government has continuously assured the people of its determination and commitment towards ensuring self-sufficiency and sustainable food security, stimulating export of livestock and livestock products as well as creating wealth and job opportunities in the state.

So far, this administration has keyed into many agricultural initiatives at state, regional and national levels to boost its performances.

To this end, in an attempt to increase access to agricultural extension/advisory scheme to farmers in the state, Governor Inuwa Yahaya established across the three senatorial zones, additional five farm service centres in Kalshingi, Lodongor, Dukul, Dukku and Gelengu with some intervention of the NEDC.

This project was complemented by another gigantic one that currently helps in the improvement of the sector, which was the establishment of Agricultural Entrepreneurship Training Centre at Garin Tafida to fully equip young farmers with skills and knowledge on how to earn much from the sector while providing the needs of the people.

The government is also a key stakeholder in the National Livestock Transformation Program with the Wawa-Zange Grazing reserve as a model project, and are tapping into the great irrigation potentials of its three major dams of Dadin Kowa, Cham and Balanga in order to promote large-scale irrigation activities.

The state’s farm service centers are being revived to serve as one-stop shops of agricultural services and have allocated about 250 hectares out of the 1000 hectares earmarked for the Gombe Industrial Park for the purpose of developing an Agricultural Industrial Cluster in order to provide room for enhancement of the agriculture value chain through the processing of agricultural commodities that are highly abound.

These, together with many donor-driven and private sector-led initiatives are turning Gombe’s agricultural sector around by diversifying its economy, improving productivity, enhancing revenue generation, creating jobs and promoting food security.

In his desire to support and empower farmers’ associations and other relevant rural-based cooperative societies in order to facilitate easy access to grants and loans, the governor introduced the Cooperative Reactivation Project (CRP) which benefitted several farmers associations.

Through this initiative, a great number of registered farmers associations secured grants and soft loans to improve their activities for improved yields.

The governor’s interest in dry farming led to the government’s giant intervention in irrigation. This saw the construction of 32 tube wells and provision of accompanying water pumps accessories to farmers across the state.

Apart from supporting farmers with water pumps, sprayers and chemicals; the governor directed the ministry of agriculture to conduct conditional assessment of irrigation potentials of the state so that more farmers would be drawn into the dry season farming initiatives of the government.

On the the procurement of fertiliser for farmers, the governor gave directive to the Ministry of Agriculture that fertilisers be made available to farmers at subsidized rates at the beginning of every farming season. This directive is what the ministry has sticked to to this time, and we’ve been seeing remarkable outcomes.

To further improve on the supply of the fertiliser, the governor upon receipt of experts recommendation on the abandoned Gombe State Fertiliser Blending Plant, leased the facility to a leading producer of quality fertiliser in Nigeria, Tak-Agro & Chemical Ltd, for greater efficiency.

This arrangement has become a win-win for the state— the facility is back to life and its operations will generate revenue to the state, the difficulty in getting fertiliser supplied to the state in adequate quantity and on time is no more; and also, it has created job opportunities for youths in the state.

On the occasion of the 2022 Farming Season Fertiliser sales to farmers held at Farm Service Center,Dukul,Kwami local government area, Governor Inuwa Yahaya lamented that “for the 2022 wet farming season, security issues and other challenges have caused delay in the procurement, production and distribution process associated with this exercise”.

However, he explained that “through the doggedness and perseverance of our Ministry of Agriculture, we have been able to overcome these challenges and we are today witnessing the flagging off ceremony of the sale and distribution to enable our farmers obtain this vital commodity at a subsidised rate for the economic growth and wellbeing of our people.

“We will continue to give maximum support for the overall progress and development of the sector”, directed that for the 2022 farming season, a bag of NPK 15- 15 fertilizer to be sold at N19,000 per bag.

He then called on the farmers of the state to take full advantage of the opportunity to advance the cause of their farming activities, while charging the Ministry of Agriculture and relevant security agencies are hereby directed to ensure strict compliance with the clear guidelines of the sale and distribution exercise.

To support the federal government agricultural intervention programs in the state, the governor approved and disbursed all counterpart funds the state government ought to commit in the implementation of the programs. N45million was paid as counterpart fund for UNDP/GEP project; N20 million was paid as counterpart fund for FADAMA III AF project; and N25 million to Leventis Foundation, Tumu, for training of students on modern farming.

As part of the commitment of the state government to agricultural development especially the livestock sector, being one of the mainstays for livelihood and economic emancipation of the people, the governor has keyed into the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) as well as Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) project of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development which are aimed at improving livestock production and curbing farmers / herders clashes.

“Also, we are committed to ensuring self-sufficiency and sustainable food security, stimulate exports of livestock and livestock products as well as create wealth and job opportunities”.

Flaging-off of mass vaccination against trans-boundary animal diseases for the North-East Zone with the support of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture held recently in Gombe, governor Inuwa Yahaya reiterated the commitment of his Administration towards ensuring self-sufficiency and sustainable food security, stimulate exports of livestock and livestock products as well as create wealth and job opportunities.

The government under Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya is also partnering the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) towards improving the agricultural and SMEs sectors which is expected to benefit cooperative societies in Gombe through their clustering into segments of the agric value chain for enhanced productivity and profitability.

He explained that the support and development of the agricultural sector are crucial to economic development, food security and sustainable livelihoods for the people of the state.

“We are determined to leverage on our comparative advantage in agriculture to unlock Gombe’s industrial potentials. It is to this end that we allocated about 250 hectares out of the 1000 hectares earmarked for the Gombe Industrial Park for the purpose of developing an Agricultural Industrial Cluster in order to provide room for enhancement of the agriculture value chain,’’ the governor stated.

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