Two years after the resuscitation of the National Agricultural Land Development Agency (NALDA), President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday showcase to Nigerians the agency’s achievements towards food security and job creation.
NALDA’s executive secretary, Prince Paul Ikonne at a briefing to herald the event in Abuja yesterday said significant progress has been made in impacting young farmers and women through several agricultural projects.
He said the President has laid a strong foundation for the agency to function effectively with over 50, 000 farmers excluding women who have so far benefited from crops and livestock production.
In addition, he disclosed that the agency is currently planting 500 hectares of dry season wheat in Adamawa, Yobe, Jigawa, Gombe and Taraba states in move to accelerate food production ahead 2023.
Ikonne who ruled out food shortage in 2023, further said the agency had acquired mechinaries and implements that has accelerated farming across the six geo-political zones.
He said, “NALDA was moribund when President Muhammadu Buhari brought it back for the purpose of encouraging young Nigerians to embrace agriculture, tackle the issue of land preparation, land clearing land development, so currently we are doing 500 hectares of wheat production in this dry season and since then till today, NALDA has been progressive and making positive impact in the lives of Nigerians.
So the President will showcase some of the equipments that NALDA has procured and also the achievements, since we cannot go to the farms where we have established the farms and bring them to the venue, but rather they will be seen in document, which are not fictitious, those farms are located in villages where people live and the location will be mentioned, meaning those farms exist”.
“Some of these achievements will be seen on papers while the name of the location will be mentioned so that the public will get to know what Mr President has achieved in agriculture using NALDA, as you know farming business is not something you start seeing today and start harvesting today, is a process, so in the process NALDA is progressing.
When we came on board, this administration of Mr President did not inherit anything in terms of equipment or infrastructure from the old NALDA but as we speak today, NALDA has offices almost in all the 36 states, including the FCT and has acquired tractors, farm implements, we have farms across the six geo-political zones within this pace of time, we have empowered over 50,000 young Nigerians outside women”, the ES said.
“The foundation that the president is using NALDA to prepare will begin to yield fruits and make more impact long before Mr President would have been gone but the most important thing is that strong foundation have been laid in resuscitating NALDA and bring back to the agency all that is required to function effectively”, he added.
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