Over 12,000 farmers to benefit from govt support in Kwara

No fewer than 12,000 crop, fisheries and livestock farmers in Kwara State will benefit from the government and World Bank-enabled support along agricultural value chains.

This was disclosed by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq during the flag-off of the Kwara FADAMA NG-CARES Result Area 2 inputs and assets to some beneficiaries in Ilorin East local government area of the state.

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According to him, the scheme was part of the measures to strengthen food security and protect vulnerable households from post-COVID-19 challenges.

The governor said his administration has keyed into many initiatives which empowered as many vulnerable families as possible to get over the hardship imposed by the COVID-19.

“One of such is the FADAMA NG-CARES (Results Area 2) which has been planned to boost food security and deliver prosperity along agricultural value chains to thousands of poor households across Kwara State.

“This programme involves provision of agricultural inputs and services and agricultural assets for production and primary processing. At least 6,000 people will benefit from this. While 3,000 livestock and fishery farmers will benefit from input and assets, additional 3,000 crop farmers will also receive inputs and assets of different kinds. All of these are designed to support our farmers and lessen the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on them. This will also have reverberating effects on the local economy.

“Beneficiaries of this gesture cut across youth and women in the 16 LGAs of the state. This intervention will continue for the next 18 months to ensure that as many farmers as possible benefit from it in different ways,” AbdulRazaq stated

The governor said the administration was transforming the agricultural sector, highlighting some of its achievements to include the recent launch of a 10-year Agricultural Transformation Plan, purchase of 15 new tractors and two bulldozers, and previous distributions of inputs and implements to thousands of farmers across the state.

Also speaking, the commissioner for Finance, Florence Oyeyemi, said the government had enlisted Kwara in the NG-Cares programme to enable poor farmers recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, charging the beneficiaries to put what they are given to good use to promote food security and the local economy.