Things appear to be looking up in the agricultural sector in the country. And there is a renewed hope that the investments put into food production by the state and federal government may yield better results this time. This is because as part of efforts to combat food insecurity and give confidence to farmers, the federal government has taken a bold step to secure the farms that have come under intense attacks from bandits and criminal herdsmen in recent years. The effort is in the deployment of agro-rangers who have been raised through the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. NSCDC. Towards this end the Corps has trained 10, 000 men who have been deployed by the government across the country.
This was disclosed by the Special Assistant to President Tinubu on News Media, Olusegun Dada in a post on the microblogging site X, formerly known as Twitter, recently. According to the presidential aide, the agro-rangers initiative is a partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the NSCDC.
“The Agro Rangers will, among other things, safeguard farmlands and protect farmers from escalating attacks, mediate conflicts between farmers and herders, and prevent malicious destruction of farmlands.
“While the food inflation crisis in the country is a function of many factors, insecurity has been a long-term challenge.
“This collaboration between the NSCDC and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is expected to solve a major challenge faced by farmers across the country.
“We are expecting to take delivery of over 5,000 sophisticated farming equipment, for the first instance, as the nation rounds up her efforts for the cultivation of over 10 million hectares of land as envisaged by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.”ca