The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has announced that the ministry has procured and distributed 58,500 metric tonnes of milled rice to curb escalating food prices in the country.
Mr Kyari made the disclosure during his presentation at the ministerial sectoral update, commemorating President Bola Tinubu’s first anniversary, on Monday, in Abuja.
He pointed out that the ministry’s presidential priority under the Renewed Hope Agenda is to boost agriculture to achieve food security, enhance infrastructure, and improve transportation as growth enablers. Additionally, the focus is on improving governance for effective service delivery.
“We inaugurated dry-season farming with the cultivation of 118,657 hectares of wheat in 15 states to accelerate year-round farming.
“We supported 107,429 wheat farmers with inputs, resulting in an output of 474,628 metric tonnes. This injected an estimated value of N309 billion into the economy”, the Minister explained.
In response to a presidential directive, the minister mentioned that the ministry released 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted food commodities from the federal government strategic food reserve to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for distribution.
He also noted the ministry’s efforts to fortify crops with vitamin A micronutrients to enhance food commodities’ nutritional content and health value.
In addressing the ginger blight disease affecting some parts of the country, Mr Kyari stated that the ministry implemented an initiative to combat the disease by disbursing N1.6 billion to support affected ginger farmers in Kaduna and Plateau states.
Additionally, a ginger master plan was developed to facilitate self-sufficiency and promote exports for foreign exchange earnings.
On pest control, the minister reported that the ministry conducted aerial operations to mitigate transboundary pests.
These operations involved 1,030 flight hours across the frontline states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara to prevent the spread of these pests.