NIGERIA MASTERWEB DAILY NEWS

*Nigeria: Akwa Ibom To Spend N25b On Agriculture

By Lateef Lawal,Lagos

Akwa Ibom State is to spend over N25 billion on the development of the agricultural sector, as part of efforts by the government to open up the State's socio-economic development as well as the creation of job opportunities for the teeming youths. Governor Godswill Akpabio disclosed this in an interview at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, while speaking on plans by the state government to interface with Israeli farmers who were in the state to explore investment opportunities in the agricultural and allied sector.

He explained that plans are also afoot by the state government to open up rural areas through massive construction of roads, to enable farmers have access to the market for their products which could be used as raw materials for local industries.

Akpabio also spoke of plans to encourage indigenes of the state to embark on the cultivation of rice through collaboration with some investors from Thailand, to teach the people how to grow rice to contribute to the economy of the state as rice is accelerating the economic development of Thialand as the world's largest exporter of the commodity.

The governor further explained that plans were also underway to fast track the growing of fruits such that the juice industry could group up in the state for export purposes. ( Continues below..... )

Akpabio speaking to reporters said: "The reality is that any nation that can not feed itself can not claim greatness. So, it has always been my vision that Akwa Ibom should be able to feed itself and particularly with the current economic meltdown and the global food insufficiency; it is important for us to make hays why the sun shines. And in this year’s budget, we have left a large chunk for the agricultural sector and we have started to reach out to a lot of international partners, among them, Israeli farmers."

Akpabio continued: "They are coming here because they have been able to develop a technology that you can do what is called integrated farming. You can use a football field to feed a whole community without necessarily having a large expanse of land as a result of nothing, but technology. For us, we believe strongly that we can learn a lot from Israel . So, that partnership is already working. We are going to Israel in February to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable them come down to assist us in the agric sector. We are doing the same thing with rice. The Vietnam farmers are already in Akwa Ibom; they have started the rice project in the state. They can bring technology down so that they can assist us in developing rice in that sector. And I can tell you with the airport already developed, it would be very easy for the agro-allied industry to spring up and of course, complemented by the independent power plant.

So, that is the sort of things we are hoping for at the end, we can produce something that will make it possible for raw materials to be used for the agro-allied industry on a large scale, which will also make it possible for a lot of small agro-allied industry to come."

For instance, here in Lagos , you see all this Ribena products and co, those things are not in the East or South-south.. They are either brought down from Lagos or imported into the country. We are hoping we can produce fruit juices through our own soil."

On the products that the state will go into, Akpabio said: "Particularly, look at cassava production, we have acquired a very robust plan of what we called Akwa Ibom State Integrated Farmers Scheme and outside that, we want to add value so that we can also have a kind of thing that Nigeria has. You buy things from the farmers to avoid loss.

So, we are encouraging people also in the cassava area because from cassava, you can have a lot of flour and starch, which can also develop an agro-allied industry that will now lead to extraction that come with cassava that can assist a lot in the area of medicine."

For me, I think the future lies in agriculture and there is no gainsaying that it remains the greatest employer of labour. So, if you really want to create employment opportunities for children and youths in 2010, almost all the states of the federation must look at agriculture."

On the financial implication for the state, Akpabio said : "It is something you can not even quantify for now, but from the state level, we expect nothing less than N25 billion in the area of agriculture and I assure that it may even go above that as time goes on. It depends on the income that comes into the state. I’m very determined to make a difference in agriculture this year. "

Lateef Lawal ( NigerianAviationNews )

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