The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, South-South, Hon. Gift Johnbull, has emphasized that achieving food security through agricultural development is a key priority in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s eight-point agenda, with a focus on enhancing agricultural production.
According to Hon. Gift Johnbull, “the initiative will not be like other government projects where the benefits are enjoyed abroad. This time, the President himself is fully committed to ensuring that our women in Edo State, especially in Edo North, are empowered.”
The “Project Earn From The Soil” initiative, launched in Edo State, aims to empower over 500,000 smallholder farmers, fisherfolk, agribusinesses, and coastal communities across the South-South region.
The project focuses on forming cooperatives, providing direct financial support and agricultural inputs, and emphasizing subsistence agriculture.
“What the women here need is encouragement and the finance to help them grow. If you give them just a little thing to help them, like seedlings, cultivating materials, and insecticides, I tell you, we will have more than enough to export,” said Pastor Isikpe Kadiri, WEE Coordinator, Edo North.
The initiative aligns with the President’s vision of promoting food security, encouraging local produce cultivation, and diversifying the economy beyond oil and gas.