Senator representing Ebonyi North senatorial district, Onyekachi Nwebonyi, has commenced the distribution of food items and farm inputs to over 20,000 members of his constituency as palliative to ameliorate the economic hardship and hunger in the country.
Flagging off the distribution at the Mbeke Ishieke Primary School, Ebonyi local government area of the state, Senator Nwebonyi who is the Senate Deputy Chief Whip said the distribution is part of his commitment to forestall the looming food crisis in the country especially in his senatorial zone.
Nwebonyi said, “I am motivated to embark on this gesture due to the hardship being faced by ordinary Nigerians as a result of the skyrocketing prices of food items in the market.”
He described as timely, the distribution of the farm inputs and palliatives adding that the farm inputs will equally help the farmers to utilise them in this fast approaching farming season.
“It is important to acknowledge the demand of the people and channel resources to their yearnings and aspiration, here in Ebonyi North Senatorial zone, majority of our people are great farmers and that’s our comparative advantage.
“What we have here are cartons of modern fertilizers and other farm inputs. I procured these modern farm inputs to revolutionize agriculture in my zone and to help our farmers to have bumper harvest in this farming season.
“I believe certainly that the farm inputs will go a long way in mitigating the food scarcity in the country by next year,” he said.
Some of the items distributed include,1,000 bags of edible rice, 2,000 bags of high yielding rice seedlings,1,000 cartons of organic fertiliser, 1,000 cartons of herbicides,1,000 cartons of insecticides and 4,000 bags of the Abakaliki rice to be shared amongst the four local government areas of Abakaliki, Ebonyi, Izzi and Ohaukwu.
Nwebonyi emphasised that the farm inputs and food items are targeted at real farmers, widows and not necessarily for political patronage and warned against selling of the farm inputs.
“The bags of these edible rice are for indigent widows from our constituency and it must get to them irrespective of political affiliations,” he said.
