No fewer than 3,000 farmers in the North Central state of Kwara have received support from the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, NILDS. The Director-General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Professor Abubakar Sulaiman said this was done in partnership with a body known as Kwara Renaissance Group (KWRG).
Speaking in Ilorin, Professor Suleiman said that the programme was aimed to address the current high cost of food in the country. He also said that the intervention was aimed at complementing efforts of both the federal and state governments to ensure food sufficiency. He added that it will also develop the capacity of local farmers in such areas of rice and all food crops cultivation in the state.
He said, “It is an inspiration borne out of the need to feed ourselves and feed the nation because we’ve been undergoing a lot of crisis.” While acknowledging current efforts by the federal and state governments to improve food production, Professor Suleiman said there is still the need for such initiatives to complement their efforts.
He said the agency recognises the fact that there are people who are willing to go into farming, and therefore stated that such persons should be given support to enhance their productivity.
For such persons , he said the needs “Such as farm instruments and tools, farm supplements, fertiliser, farm clearing, improved seedlings and stipends,” could be a serious challenge if not assisted. “As individuals that are resourceful, that have the reach and connection, we also need to complement farmers and governments on what they’re doing,” he noted.
Suleiman added:”What I’m doing today is in line with capacity building of our institute to build the capacity of Nigerian farmers, so that we can grow abundant food to feed the nation.” The DG NILDS, who said that registered beneficiaries were selected after obtaining forms, added that more beneficiaries would be included in the programme in the near future, as it is an ongoing project.
He also said that evaluation and monitoring would be carried out on the people to assess progress on their individual farms, adding that the initiative could go into a data bank of the state government to know the number of farmers in the state, arable lands, and how the federal government can come in to assist them.
Toyeeb, a tomato farmer, who said that it takes about N60,000 to do farm clearing of an hectare of land, added that the initiative includes providing land clearing free of charge with other incentives such as seedlings, agricultural education and enlightenment on a more productive way of farming. He said, “KWRG also has a team that would do monitoring and evaluation of the beneficiaries to ensure we have good results from selected serious farmers,” he said.
