The federal government is working hard to defeat food insecurity in Nigeria. In
this wise, it is not leaving any stone unturned. Part of the effort is to give hope to
farmers who had found themselves at the mercy of natural disasters like floods. So,
the government has sent the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA to
states like Anambra State, not just to preach to them that they can overcome
natural disasters, but that the authorities would be by them all the way. As a starter,
NEMA has undertaken the distribution of agricultural inputs.
The exercise was a part of the final phase of the dry season farming support by the
federal government. It started in September 2023.
Olusegun Afolayan, leader of NEMA team that gave the materials, said
enumeration was done earlier last year to capture victims of flooding and
vulnerable persons to generate a list of beneficiaries. About 2,000 farmers
benefitted from the support, and the target food crops are yam, maize and
rice. Each yam farmer got 50 seedlings, two chemicals and a pumping
machine, while rice farmers got 10.2kg bags of seedlings, a pumping
machine and seven different chemicals respectively. According to Afolayan,
the distribution exercise started with the Anambra North Senatorial District
which was seriously impacted by the flood. Thereafter, the NEMA team
moved to the Anambra Central Senatorial District.
He said: “Now, we are attending to those in the Anambra South Senatorial
District with these agricultural inputs, namely yam, maize and rice
seedlings and each of these goes with water pump equipment, fertiliser and
associated chemicals.’’
The NEMA official urged the beneficiaries to use the items for their own
economic benefits and contribution to achieving national food security of
President Bola Tinubu and not to sell them for momentary monetary gains.
Also speaking, Executive Secretary of Anambra State Emergency
Management Agency, Paul Odenigbo, said the farm inputs would impact
agricultural productivity positively this season. Odenigbo commended the
enumeration exercise, which gave the federal agency the needed statistics
for the effective distribution of farm inputs to the impacted farmers. He also
said that the items addressed the needs of the various beneficiaries.
Some of the beneficiaries expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for
approving the relief items and also NEMA for ensuring that they reached
the intended beneficiaries. The Transition Committee Chairman of Anambra
West Local Government Area, Felix Ikechi, said the items arrived at the
time they were going into a new farming season.
According to Mr. Ikechi, the 2022 flood impact was still visible in the social
economic lives of the people. However, he said that the agro-inputs would
go a long way in cushioning the effects. Hear him: “I want to thank Mr.
President for making these items available, my people are happy. And I
also want to thank my governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, for insisting that
the beneficiaries must get them directly. We cannot quantify the benefits,
most of these people cannot buy these pumping machines, chemicals and
seedlings from the market.” I appreciating the governments, at the federal
and state levels, the council boss wants the beneficiaries to show greater
appreciation by making good use of what had been given to them. He said,
“So, my advice is that they (farmers) should use them for the purpose they
were given to them”.
On her part, a beneficiary, Francisca Nnama, said she was grateful for the
items she received and promised to apply them accordingly. “I thank Mr.
President, I thank NEMA, and I pray that God will bless them,” she said.
