The Federal Government has said the disruptions that the activities of insurgents, terrorists and bandits have not significantly affected agricultural production.
Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Mohammed Abubakar said this while featuring on the weekly Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communication Team at the Presidential Villa yesterday in Abuja.
The minister also said about 3.6 million indirect jobs had been created from $2.4 billion externally funded projects being implemented by the present administration.
Abubakar, who was accompanied by other senior officials of the ministry, was responding to a question on reported inability of farmers in the North to access to farms.
The minister said though the Federal Government was concerned about the level of insecurity in the land, it had not significantly hampered food production.
“About farmers not being able to access their farms in the Northeast, the Northwest and the Northcentral: yes, it’s a concern for the government. However, if you notice, our production still has not dropped to any significant level that will make us to say it has dropped. And it’s one of the reasons we have this arrangement for the agro-rangers to provide some measure of security to be able to access the farms.
“Truly, yes. If you cannot have complete access to farms all over, you will expect a drop in food production. Right now, we are doing everything possible to make sure we maintain that security provision and other things that we may not necessarily have mentioned. But you can see food is still being produced for the most parts,” he said.
Speaking on the gains derived from internationally funded projects, Abubakar said $538 million was approved for special agricultural processing zones to support inclusive and sustainable agricultural development in Nigeria.
The minister said another project, valued at $575 million, was being implemented to improve rural access and agricultural marketing in participating states while strengthening the financing institutional base for effective development, maintenance and management of rural roads network.
He gave the participating states as Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Kebbi, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto.
The minister said government was also implementing the Value Chain Development Programme Additional Financing (VCDP-AF) 2020- 2024 to enhance, on a sustainable basis, incomes and food security of poor rural households engaged in the production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava.
He added that the project was being implemented in nine states, including Niger, Benue, Ogun, Ebonyi, Taraba and Anambra, Nasarawa, Kogi and Enugu, “to scale up the achievement recorded in the original VCDP states”.