The Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), Prince Paul Ikonne, has called for the sustainability of its agricultural projects and initiatives to enhance the food supply in the country.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Prince Ikonne said that he built NALDA from scratch when he was appointed to revamp the agency a few years ago, leading to the current successes recorded.
He said NALDA has successfully launched four (4) programmes, and 92 projects, and acquired over 140 assets across the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory.
The Executive Secretary said that NALDA has created thousands of jobs for women and youths across the states, adding that many have been supported to start fish, goat, rabbit and snail farms across the states generating income for poor families.
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“Four years into my tenure of five years, we can boast of an agency of government that has done well in the area of crop production, animal husbandry, poultry and the area of empowering the youths.
“We came up with initiatives that require urgent attention to help us achieve our mandate, which is food security. Initiatives like having integrated farm estates, having empowerment centres where youths can go in and be trained on crop production, animal husbandry and agribusiness.
“We also came up with the NALDA Institute of Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship, which has the approval of Mr. President, and that school is taking off in September.
“The one in Abia is fully ready and commencing academic session this September. The one in Ogun is 99 per cent completed, the one in Katsina is 89 per cent complete,” he said.
He said these institutes would sustain themselves because they have farms, poultry, fishery, and animal husbandry sections, adding that they were designed to attract young farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs across the country.
Ikonne said NALDA also embarked on the distribution of seeds to thousands of smallholder farmers in addition to creating a data bank of farmers, which he emphasised the country never had in collaboration with the Department of State Security (DSS).
“Mechanization is key in agriculture; we have acquired 5 drones for area mapping and for spraying fertiliser and chemicals. We have also acquired tractors, combined harvesters that we are using for large-scale production.
“In Benue, we harvested 200 hectares of rice last season. This season, harvest is going on in Benue on 100 hectares of land. In Niger, harvesting of rice is going on from 50 hectares for dry season rice, and at the same time, we are planting for the wet season. In Kogi, we have cleared 200 hectares and maize planting is going on for the wet season. In Ekpe, Lagos State, we have cleared 150 hectares for greenhouses; we have finished building the warehouse for storage and also the facility for processing.
“In Ekiti, NALDA cleared 200 hectares for cassava planting and the land preparation is going on. We have provided the inputs for the farmers in partnership with a private farmer who got land allocation from the Ekiti state government so the off-taker is already waiting,” he stated.
The ES said for food security to be achieved, continuity of the programmes and projects were key.
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