The federal government on Thursday announced the collection of a $134m loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to produce 1.2 million metric tonnes of wheat and rice by 2025.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this at the flag-off of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming in Calabar, Cross River State.
Kyari said the loan initiative is under the National Agricultural Growth Support Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project and will support the national dry season farming to boost year-round agricultural production and guarantee national food security in the country.
According to the minister, the program would also support 400,000 rice and wheat farmers across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He said, “The federal government has secured a loan facility of $134 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help farmers boost seeds and grain production in the country.
“For the 2024/2025 dry season farming, the project is targeted to support 250,000 wheat farmers across the wheat-producing states with subsidized agricultural inputs to cultivate about 250,000 hectares with an expected output of about 750,000 metric tons of wheat to be added to the food reserve to reduce dependence on importation of the product and also increase domestic consumption.
“Equally, the program will provide support to 150,000 rice farmers under the second phase to cover all the 37 states, including FCT, with an expected output of about 450,000 metric tons.”
Senator Kyari revealed that the government wants to use the agricultural sector for national economic revival through increased production of staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both dry and wet season farming.
Speaking further, the minister revealed that 107,429 wheat farmers were supported under phase 1 of the 2023/2024 dry season, 43,997 rice farmers under the second phase of the 2023/2024 dry season, and 192,095 rice, maize, sorghum/millet, soybean, and cassava farmers under the 2024 wet season across the 37 states and FCT.
The minister said the partnership with the Cross River government stems from its commitment to wheat production, as it leads 16 other states in wheat production.
He noted that over 3,000 wheat farmers have been listed to benefit from the support to grow the grain, as the partnership with the state kickstarts the maiden wheat production, enlisting it among the states in the 2024/2025 dry season farming.
In his remarks, the governor of Cross River State, Mr. Bassey Otu, represented by his Deputy, Mr. Peter Odey, said the state has a deliberate agriculture policy to bolster food availability, assuring the state’s support and cooperation for the initiative, especially as it is listed as a foremost wheat farming state.
According to him, “This will further propel us to intensify more efforts at producing more grains and seeds for food availability.”
The National Project Coordinator, NAGS-AP, Mr. Buba Ishaku, pointed out that the project would be implemented in two phases and support farmers with quality seeds as well as grains, as disclosed by the Chief Information Officer FMAFS, Eremah Anthonia.
