President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday showcase to Nigerians the achievements recorded by the National Agricultural Land Development Agency (NALDA) towards food security and job creation.
The Executive Secretary of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne while briefing journalists on Monday in Abuja, said significant progress has been made in impacting young farmers and women through several agricultural projects.
He said with more Nigerians going into food production, President Buhari’s resuscitation of NALDA has galvanized agribusiness across the 36 States within two years.
He said through NALDA’s interventions, over 50,000 youth have been empowered within the period across the country.
Ikonne who ruled out food shortage in 2023, further stated that the agency had acquired machinery and implements that have accelerated farming across the six geo-political zones.
He said: “So, Mr President will showcase some of the equipment NALDA has procured, and also the achievements. These are not fictitious stories, they are farms located in villages where people live, and the names of those locations will be mentioned.
“Currently, we are doing 500 hectares of wheat production in this dry season farming. There is no way you cannot come and bring these 500 hectares and begin to showcase them. Go to Jigawa where we are doing 100 hectares, 100 hectares in Nengere in Yobe State.
“Some of these achievements will be on paper with the names of the locations and names that would be made available to the public to see what Mr President has achieved in agriculture using NALDA.
“Agriculture is a process and being a process NALDA is progressing when we came on board when Mr President resuscitated NALDA, there was nothing NALDA inherited in terms of equipment or infrastructure from the old NALDA, but as we speak today NALDA has offices in almost the 36 States including the Federal Capital Territory NALDA has acquired tractors, farm implements, farms across the country and all the six geopolitical zones within this space of time and has empowered over 50, 000 Nigerians aside women.
“So the progress and foundation the President is using NALDA to build would begin to yield more fruit and make more impact long before Mr President would be gone but the most important thing is a strong foundation has been laid in resuscitating NALDA and giving the agency all the support that is required for the agency to function effectively.
“Mr President will be unveiling what NALDA has been doing within these two years that NALDA is back to better the lives of Nigerians and develop our agricultural space.”
The NALDA boss further explained that the wheat planting is currently ongoing. “We have three farmers per hectare and is going on in five States- Gombe, Jigawa, Adamawa, Taraba and Bauchi. We have two farms in Gombe, one in Nengere and Ganya.
“NALDA provided them with land preparation. We have also done an access road to the farm in Bauchi. So the community provided the land and we provided the inputs, herbicides and land preparations”, he noted.
