The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, South-South, Hon. Gift Johnbull, has emphasized that achieving food security through agricultural development is a key priority in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s eight-point agenda, with a focus on enhancing agricultural production.
Johnbull disclosed this during the flag-off of the agricultural initiative, ‘Project Earn From The Soil,’ and the domestication of the Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) Policy in Auchi, Edo State.
The initiative was previously launched in Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and Bayelsa states with the Federal Government targeting over 500,000 smallholder farmers, fisherfolk, agribusinesses, and coastal communities across the South-South region.
Speaking at the Edo State launch, Johnbull conveyed the President’s commitment, stating that the initiative would differ from previous government projects.
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“This will not be like other government projects where the benefits are enjoyed abroad. This time, the President himself is fully committed to ensuring that our women in Edo State, especially in Edo North, are empowered.”
She highlighted the importance of empowering women in Edo State and across the South-South region, noting the region’s wealth in resources and potential.
“This region, with its six states and 123 local government areas, is rich in resources and potential, and I am honored to serve its people,” Johnbull said.
She emphasized that the project aligns with the President’s vision of promoting food security, encouraging the cultivation of local produce, and diversifying the economy beyond oil and gas.
The Agric initiative focuses on several key areas including forming cooperatives at the local government level based on the agricultural commodities grown by women, providing direct financial support and agricultural inputs to enhance productivity, and emphasizing subsistence agriculture while supporting individual farmers.
Unlike past programmes, the initiative aims to provide tangible resources such as seedlings, cultivating materials, and insecticides, rather than just financial handouts.
The coordinator of the WEE, Edo North, Pastor Isikpe Kadiri, acknowledged the women’s eagerness to participate, noting that even the prospect of progress is enough to make them happy.
She stressed that the key to empowering these women lies in providing them with the financial support they need.
“What the women here need is encouragement and the finance to help them grow. If you give them just a little thing to help them, like seedlings, cultivating materials, and insecticides, I tell you, we will have more than enough to export,” she said.
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