News in brief: Nigerian farmers will receive a $134 million funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to enhance the production of food crops like rice, maize, sorghum, and soybean crops. The funding aims to support smallholder farmers and increase total food production while addressing the rising prices of agricultural commodities.
The Nigerian Government is set to boost production of food crops with a funding of $134 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB). These crops are rice maize, sorghum and soybean, according to news reports.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, made this announcement at the Preparatory Meeting of Relevant Stakeholders for the Implementation of National Agricultural Growth Scheme. The meeting’s agenda was to chart a way forward for efficient implementation of the rebranded National Agricultural Growth Scheme (NAGS) and Agro-Pocket (AP).
Umakhihe reminded the audience that the Nigerian government, in partnership with various private sector members, implemented an e-wallet scheme, called Growth Enhancement Support (GES), which handles delivery of agricultural inputs to farmers nationwide.
He revealed that the government will support 60,000 smallholder farmers in 26 local government areas of five Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program Phase One (ATASP-1) states. They will receive critical farm inputs such as fertilizers, seeds and agrochemicals through the ICT based delivery platform to produce rice, maize and sorghum.
NAGS-AP project has five states of implementation, namely; Niger, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto and Kebbi States.
“The goal of the National Agricultural Growth Scheme (NAGS) is to increase total food production. It is also expected to crash the continued rise in the prices of agricultural commodities,” Umakhihe further said.
