By Jude Michael
The Federal government’s National Agricultural Growth Scheme Agro-pocket (NAGS-AP) was recently launched formally with about 14,000 profiled farmers in Anambra and Enugu States to access farm inputs at 50 percent subsidy.
The flag-off ceremony held at Ikem Townhall in Isi-Uzo local government area of Enugu State had in attendance Over 250 lead farmers under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program Phase-One, ATASP-1 Adani-Omor Zone, ATASP-1 National and Zonal officials and other stakeholders from the Agricultural Ministries in Anambra and Enugu as well as other value chain development actors.
In his address as the Special Guest of Honour, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, disclosed that federal government the farm inputs were would spend about N5 billion to provide inputs to Nigerian farmers at subsidized rate.
The minister, represented by Dr. Peter Kush, a Director in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, explained that farmers under ATASP-1 Adani-Omor Zone had not benefited because it was off season at the time OF its launch last year, hence the need to extend the programme in Enugu and Anambra States this year.
According to him, every benefitting farmer will receive a package of two bags of inorganic, NPK/Urea fertilizer, one bag of organic fertilizer, 10kg of seeds of either maize/rice/sorghum and four litres of Agro-chemicals delivered through ICT platform.
Kyari noted that the agricultural policy of Federal Government aims at the attainment of self-sustaining growth in all the sub- sectors of agriculture and the structural transformation necessary for the overall socio-economic development.
He said: ‘Under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, Federal Government is currently implementing the National Agricultural Growth Scheme Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) across the nation.
‘This significant milestone marks a crucial step in our commitment to empowering our farmers and enhancing agricultural productivity.
‘By providing quality inputs, we aim to support our farmers in achieving higher yields and ensuring food security for Nigeria.’
Declaring the NAGS-AP distribution exercise open, the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah commended the federal government, the African Development Bank (AfDB) for their support to the state through ATASP-1 program.
Mbah, represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation, Mr Patrick Ubru, said that subsidised input distribution is a crucial step towards enhancing agricultural productivity and ensuring food security in the state and country.
He said: ‘I commend the Federal Government for its commitment to providing agricultural inputs to our smallholder farmers, a move that resonates with the agenda of my administration in agriculture.”
‘The objective of the NAGS-AP aligns perfectly with our vision of achieving food security, nutrition security, and sustainable development through agriculture.
Earlier, Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State, commended President Bola Tinubu and African Development Bank (AfDB) for assisting smallholder farmers with inputs and for provision of infrastructure to boost food production through ATASP-1.
Soludo, represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture in Anambra, Dr Foster Ihejiofor, said that the distribution is a fulfillment of Federal Government earlier promise to smallholder farmers in 2023.
‘ATASP-1 has been highly beneficial to the participating communities in Anambra State and contributed to the educational and health wellbeing of our people,’ the governor said.
ATASP-1 National Programme Coordinator Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Arabi, in his remarks described ATASP-1 as” a game changer” in agricultural development focusing on rice, cassava and sorghum within the country.
Arabi noted that ATASP-1 had recorded tremendous progress in the past years of its operation, with construction of socio-economic infrastructures such as classroom blocks, health clinics, solar motorized boreholes, markets, agroprocrssing centers among others.
‘Other achievements included technology demonstration centres, feeder roads and construction and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities across the seven states of the programme,” he said.
Dr Romanus Egba, the Zonal Programme Co-ordinator of ATASP-1 Adani-Omor Zone, appreciated the Federal, Anambra and Enugu State governments for providing enabling environment to work together to give subsidised agro-inputs to farmers in the zone.
An elated Egba said that today, “an average person is a farmer and these agro-inputs will go long for bumper harvest, food production and food sufficiency in the country.’
‘One of the beneficiaries, Mr Paulinus Orji, a sorghum farmer, thanked the Federal Government and ATASP-1 for making the subsidised agro-inputs possible.
‘These inputs we collect today, we are going to get bumper and bountiful harvest from it in few months to come,’ Orji said.
