The Kwara State government has commenced distribution of farm inputs to farmers across the state.
The distribution was flagged off at Apata Alaje in Banni Community, Kaiama local government area of the state by the state Ministry of Livestock Development, in partnership with Arzikin Noma and an international partner, IDH.
At the flag-off ceremony, Commissioner for Livestock Development in the state, Mrs Oloruntoyosi Thomas, said the project focused on cultivating sorghum and soyabean to boost grain production for animal feed.
She noted that the scheme will also check the perennial conflicts between farmers and herdsmen.
The Commissioner commended development partners for coming on board, and described the partnership as timely and purposeful.
“The current partnership with Arzikin /IDH/Olam is very timely because it is focused on cultivation of grains for human and animals, but majorly for animal feed production,” she said.
“As we are all aware, food is the main reason for clashes between farmers and herders and if we can grow more grains that will be used for animal feed to achieve the modernisation and commercialisation of livestock farming, then we are on our way to ending farmers/herders clashes in Nigeria.
“This partnership will also help us to achieve a broader agenda of this administration which is creation of industries and value addition centres, to ensure that goods produced in Kwara are processed or improved upon and do not leave the state as unprocessed goods,” Thomas said.
The commissioner disclosed that the items distributed include 18,000 bags of fertilizer, 6,000 litres each of 3 different chemicals, 75MT of sorghum seed, and 100MT of soya seed.
Speaking on behalf of other beneficiaries, Mrs Asmau Muhammad and Iliasu Saka, thanked the government for the gesture and promised to make judicious use of the items received.
