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| His Excellency, Mr. Udom Emmanuel,Governor of Akwa Ibom State. |
Akwa Ibom State leads this movement as it positions to move agriculture beyond a subsistent engagement, to a business.
The inauguration of a Technical Committee on Agriculture and Food Sufficiency in addition to a Ministry of Agriculture and the subsequent beehive of agricultural and agro-allied activities across the state give tangibility to Akwa Ibom State’s drive at exploiting nature’s vast endowment to ensure food availability and economic advancement.
Soil and weather conditions in Akwa Ibom are very favourable for Cocoa cultivation which can be considered “an untapped oil well” in the country. However, the state produces a paltry 300kg per hectare. Accordingly, a ‘Cocoa Maintenance Scheme’ to improve the yield of cocoa from the present 300kg per hectare to 1,500kg per hectare, has commenced in the State. This scheme will train farmers on contemporary agronomic practices to improve cocoa cultivation with a view to earning foreign exchange. 450 youths are currently being trained by Ghanaian Consultants at Ini Local Government Area.
Meanwhile, modalities for the establishment of a greenhouse cocoa nursery farm (which will provide 5 million hybrid seedlings, and prospectively, another 2 metric tonnes) by Dutch Consultants are currently being worked out.
After the ground-breaking ceremony earlier in the year, St. Gabriel Coconut Plantation & Refinery Ltd., has taken-off with the planting of improved variety of coconut seedlings on several hectares of land at Mkpat Enin, Ikot Abasi and Eastern Obolo Local Government Areas.
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| The newly commissioned Akwa Prime Hatchery, Mbiaya, Uruan |
An area of special interest is livestock farming. The official opening of Akwa Prime Poultry & Hatchery Ltd in Uruan Local Government Area in May 2016 has catalysed poultry farming. It has encouraged farmers to set up breeder farms to either harvest eggs for sale to the hatchery or for hatching and thereafter harvest the day-old-chicks (DOCs) for brooding. This also ensures high yield at harvest as the quality of DOCs can, to a large extent, be guaranteed since only high quality fertilized eggs are selected for hatching. This will also help douse growing health concerns in Nigeria about imported poultry products.
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| Ime Uwah, Special Assistant to the Governor on Marketing and Brand Management. |
Approval has been given Merlot Anny Limited for the reactivation and management of the defunct State Premier Fisheries at Obio Eket in Nsit Ubium. In the interim, private piggeries, fish farms, and snail farms owned by smallholder farmers are scattered across the State. In a bid to maximize the huge economic potentials here, the State Government’ Directorate has introduced the ‘Dakkada Business Forum’ as an opportunity to expose farmers all over the state to improved agricultural practices and methods. The forum organizes business clinics for these farmers to acquire knowledge from agricultural experts in addition to providing information on opportunities, as well as counsel them on proper business and management practices.
As a staple food across the country, Cassava is consumed in various forms by every Nigerian family daily. Due to its importance, the State Government is working towards a 50% reduction in the price of Cassava-based products like Garri, within two years. Measures aimed at achieving this include the rehabilitation of previously dormant Cassava processing plants and designation of about 6,000 hectares of land for establishment of demonstration/multiplication farms at Ikot Oku Udom in Eket, Ikot Ekan in Abak, Ishiet Ekim in Uruan, Nung Udoe in Ibesikpo Asutan and at Mbak Nsit. These plants are currently working to up their production capacities to 40 metric tons of cassava, starch, flour, fufu etc., per day, from 10 metric tons.
Akwa Ibom has been able to attract the N200 million Grant from the Federal Government to support full value chain in cassava, tomato, rice and sorghum having paid Six Million Naira counter-part funding to be able to access the FADAMA III Additional Financing Intervention Project of the Federal Government. Service providers, input suppliers, agro-dealers, processors, off-takers and marketers are all proposed to benefit from these.
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| Cassava demonstration farm |
Government has made provision for the cultivation of 200 hectares of improved variety of maize in each of the 31 Local Government Area of the State. Aside consumption in its various forms, increased maize production will further boost livestock farming through the provision of raw material for livestock feed production which is largely dependent on maize.
To curb the expenditure on importation of rice, more emphasis has been placed on rice production. The Government has secured N10 billion for small-scale rice growers through the ‘Anchor Borrowers Program’ of the Central Bank of Nigeria in collaboration with Bank of Agriculture. Cumulatively, about 63,715 hectares of swamp land is targeted for cultivation by rice farmers in the state.
Akwa Ibom State Government has entered into an agreement on agricultural development, infrastructural expansion and consolidation with Ashdene Associates Nigeria, a non-profit organization reputed to have successfully executed business in about twenty nine countries of the world. The organization will explore the abundant agricultural resources especially in respect to rice production and the Coconut refinery projects.
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| Coconut seedlings |
Government is also currently partnering with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development under the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) for the provision of farm inputs for millions of farmers in Akwa Ibom between 2016 and 2019. Farmers in crops, livestock and fisheries sub-sectors are billed to benefit from this scheme.
In view of these prospects, a good number of local and foreign investors have indicated interest in the areas of feed production, food processing, waste management and waste recycling in the State. These will add to the many prospective jobs in the Agriculture sector.
CC: akwaibomstate.gov.ng
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