As part of measures to boost food supply across the country, the federal government has earmarked abandoned acres of land in tertiary institutions for farming.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Eastern Nigeria Union Conference Centenary Public Lecture and Food Summit with the theme ‘” Ending Food Shortage in Nigeria, How to Apply The Surplus Concept’, in Port Harcourt during the weekend.
Represented by the Ministry’s Deputy Director, Nutrition and Food Safety, Nuhu Kilishi, the Minister noted that letters had already been transmitted to the institutions, seeking their consent.
Kyari, while noting that the move would be a sure step to revive farming in schools, added that some of the tertiary institutions have begun responding favourably.
Kyari stated, “We want to revive farming in the schools and institutions. We have written to the universities and schools for them to let us utilise hectares of their land that are unused.
“They have started responding, by the time we have a reasonable level of compliance, there is going to be a programme that would ensure that those empty lands are being used for cultivation and this will add to food availability.”
He said in a bid to reduce the cost of cultivation the Federal Government would provide farmers with solar-powered irrigation pumps.
He advised farmers not to stop at production of agricultural produce, but to explore the options of processing those products to maximise profit.
“Farmers need to use irrigation pumps, so the ministry is intending to buy solar pumps for farmers to cut costs for them. Instead of using petrol, they would be using solar pumps.
“The Minister has rolled out immediate, short term, medium and long term plans that would address food shortage in Nigeria.
“I will advise farmers that after producing don’t stop at production, go into processing, value addition because it pays more to do that.”