A'Ibom disburses N1.2bn to cassava farmers to boost food sufficiency

In pursuit of food sufficiency, Akwa Ibom State government has disbursed over N1.2 billion as interest- free loans to 2,000 cassava farmers in the last two years.

The state government has equally stepped up efforts to curb the monopoly of market unions in the pricing of foodstuffs in the state.

Checks by journalists revealed that government’s drive towards food sufficiency is hampered by the low capacity utilisation of its multi-faceted cassava processing mills and lack of commitment from beneficiaries of government agricultural loans.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Glory Edet, who spoke with reporters in Uyo, on the sustainability of the state government’s subsidised sale of garri, said the loan scheme was a deliberate move to reduce the astronomical rise in the price of garri, a staple food in the state.

Edet pointed out that the initiative was not limited to increased cassava production disclosing that 1,000 each of maize and vegetable farmers also benefitted from interest-free loans.

She said her ministry distributed 700,000 cocoa seedlings to cocoa farmers and boosted livestock farmers with improved breeds of goats and other animals.

She explained that the present utilisation of the cassava mills was dependent on the quantity of cassava from its demonstration farms across the state.

Government, she said in addition acted as off-takers by buying from smallholder cassava farmers to increase processing capacity and empower the farmers to sustain production.

The ministry, the Commissioner said has sustained the sell of more than 150 bags of 120kg bags of garri per day at a reduced price in different parts of the state to ameliorate the hardship on residents and force the stabilisation of the price of the commodity in the open market.

“In the area of cultivation, we have been encouraging farmers with interest-free loans. Last year, we gave over 2,000 farmers N250, 000 for each of the over 5,000 hectares they cultivated. We also gave them free improved varieties of cassava stem and this has boosted production in the state.

“To break the monopoly of market unions we have harvested the cassava we planted in our demonstration farms.

“We have also processed them and selling them at three cups for N100 when it was a cup for N100 in the open market and we ensured we take them to major markets around the state in addition to selling at the State Secretariat three times a week,” she said.

On the broader initiative, the commissioner said has been on increasing the scope of the state government’s Green House with increased emphasis on the training and empowerment of individual holder farmers, especially youths and women with funds, equipments, agro chemicals, fertilizer and improved varieties of seeds and stems.

The ministry, she said has also expanded its swampy rice production capacity to include individual holder farms in Okobo, Uruan, Ibiono Ibom and Nsit Ubium LGAs in addition to existing plantations at Ini Local Council.

She maintained that the efforts were a holistic strategy to ensure that the state government’s target of local production of at least 80 per cent of food consumed in the state by 2023 is achieved.