President Buhari directs institutions to revive agric sector

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed all agric-related institutions and agencies in the country to revive the nation’s agricultural sector.

Buhari gave the order while inaugurating the National Land Agricultural Development Agency (NALDA) Integrated Farm Centre at Suduje, near Daura, in Daura Local Government Area of Katsina State, on Monday.

He stated that the revitalisation would promote food security and provide employment for the teeming populace.

“I, therefore, direct all institutions to revive the farming economy in collaboration with NALDA in the 109 senatorial districts of Nigeria.

“We can do it and we must do it, because we have vast and human resources to ensure food sufficiency for our people,” the president said.

He noted that agriculture had currently migrated from subsistence to commercial and that Nigeria could now produce what to eat and sale.

The president stressed that the resuscitation of NALDA was aimed to engage young men and women to produce abundant food for consumption and to sale the surplus.

He commended Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina state for donation of 100 hectares of land for establishment of the NALDA Farm Centre in Sujude.

Earlier, Masari prayed for good health to the president and a successful tenure.

He observed that when Buhari assumed office in 2015, he banned the importation of foreign rice and other items and people became skeptical, but the decision became a blessing to Nigerians.

He commended Buhari’s Social Security Programmes like the N-Power, Agricultural Anchor Borrowers Scheme and Trader Money, which were aimed to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

He pledged that he would continue to key into the Federal Government’s agriculture programmes, recalling that it was the mainstay of economy before the discovery of oil.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NALDA farm centre has modern facilities, including school, clinic, market training centre and administration block.

NAN also observed that the centre comprised two sections of livestock and agro-allied products.