Worried about the cycle of rural poverty and other problems involved in agriculture ranging from associated flooding and climate change, the federal government has resolved to promote a policy of climate smart agricultural programme.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Sonny Echono disclosed this in a press briefing on the 2015 World Food Day Celebration held in Abuja.
He said the theme of this year world food day, "Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty", will bring about strategies to drive agriculture in the rural areas which include increased use of flood resistant and early maturing seed varieties; adoption and use of organic nutrients including fertiliser, provision and use of irrigation facilities and mechanisation.
According to him, the policy will also pursue an expanded dry season farming which has significantly increased yield and translated into enhance income for Nigerian farmers.
Other current programmes of the federal government, which aimed at providing employment and reducing poverty in the rural areas, the Permanent Secretary said is the Youth Empowerment Agricultural Programme (YEAP), which will give agricultural business employment and training to an initial 30,000 Nigerian youths and a total of 800,000 in the next four years and stressed that the National Agricultural Land Expansion Programme is aimed at making land available for youths to engage in agriculture.
Under the programme, Echono said the federal government will provide and clear the lands for the selected youths in different parts of the country.
"The government will also introduce the youth farmers to off takers (markets) who will not only provide the youths with farm inputs like seeds, fertiliser and other inputs but also buy the products of the youth farmers," he said.
He further explained that youths will be selected from the communities where the lands are located.
He conveyed the feeling and sympathy of President Mohammadu Buhari to Nigerian farmers who were affected by the recent flooding across the agricultural belts and assured that the government will not only take mitigating measures but will also put in place actions that will guarantee food security, social protection and a vibrant agricultural sector that will assist in breaking the cycle of rural poverty.
Earlier in a message read by the country representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), Dr. Louise Setshwalo, the Director General.
Source: The Guardian
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