The Akwa-Ibom Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Mathew Ekaette, has said that the state government has commenced mechanised farming to ensure food accessibility and sufficiency.

 

 

Ekaette, who made this known to newsmen in Uyo on Wednesday, said that some communities were donating lands to the state government to achieve the objective.

 

 

He said that government had commenced steps to ensure availability of food across the state.

 

 

The commissioner noted that government was embarking on mechanised farming to ensure that food was produce in a commercial scale in the state.

 

 

“Food sufficiency rest on four pillars, government is ensuring that food is available, affordable, accessible and save for human consumption,’’ he said.

 

 

He said that the state government would engage farmers through cooperative societies to involve them in massive production of food crops for income generation.

 

 

“Farmers will be mobilised and sensitised through capacity building and then make all these inputs for them at the level of cooperative.

 

“We will also ensure that there is value addition in what we produce because if there is value addition the poverty level which our farmers have subject to will remain,’’ Ekaette said.

 

 

The commissioner said that the state government in tackling poverty among farmers in the state would also ensure value addition to produce to further enhance investment in the sector.

 

 

Ekaette said the government had approved the reactivation of cassava processing plant in the state.

 

He appealed to various communities to support and cooperate with government in the donation of more land for cultivation.

 

He expressed regrets that the biometric exercise designed by government to capture farmers in the state had suffered setbacks with only 366 registered farmers out of 2.1million famers in the state.

 

According to him, it represents less than 3 per cent of the expected registration.

 

He called on farmers to key into the initiative to enable the state benefit from the Federal Government programme in the subsector.

 

Ekaette assured farmers in the state of government support in providing them with the needed skills and tools for effective farming.

 

 

 

(NAN)