12,000 Hectares of Farmland: Been brushed by Nigeria’s Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu for onboarding out-Agriculturalists

By Abdul Rahman Bangura-

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone– The out-growers are expected to cultivate rice, maize, cassava, wheat, coffee and cowpea.

In his statement at the flagging off settings held at Efeidem community in Odukpani Local Government Area, Governor Otu declared that the project is in alliance with Nigerian Agricultural Mechanization and Equipment Leasing Company (NAMEL) and the State is venturing Six Billion Naira.

He asserted his administration’s top most focus to bolster human capacity in Agriculture, health, education and wealth creation, making agriculture the fulcrum of the state’s economy.

“This project would take over 4,000 people out of the unemployment market. Wealth is going to be created in such an unprecedented manner. Gone are the days where Cross River is referred to as a poor state.

“We are not coming to take your land. We are coming to empower you in a way that you will make money, as well as all the contributors to the value chain would also make money. It is going to be a win-win for all.

“The direction of our movement is ‘People First’. No matter what you do, if the people are not happy and strong, the community, State or nation cannot grow; hence our quest for equitable creation of wealth,” the Governor noted.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Nsa Gill, the Governor, a son of the soil in Odukpani, thanked his kinsmen and women for their unwavering assistance over the years, and asked them to take the agribusiness project very seriously, while assuring that “we have all the technical and extension officials who would be on ground to make sure that the correct chemicals are applied to boost yield, ensure that things are done in a way that would derive maximum benefits for all parties involved.”

He exemplified that, the statewide soil investigation and mapping exercise already undertaken to examine what farmers where, lends credence to the present administration’s preparedness to launch Cross River into economic prosperity through agriculture.

Earlier in his address, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation Development, Hon. Johnson Ebokpo, praised the Governor for his developmental vision, having slated some of these commendable programmes years before he took the mantle of leadership of the State.

Ebokpo an announced that, the Otu-led administration subsidized into the wealth creating project upon the realization that arable crop production in commercial quantity are the key to unlocking the state’s agrarian rural economies, with government taking responsibility by the most difficult responsibility which is land preparation.

The Commissioner anticipated that, government’s huge total of venture into the project would only be catapult Cross River to becoming a national reference point for food security and wealth creation.

The Commissioner noted that the exercise is part of the administration’s Project Grow initiative which is a Public Private Partnership project facilitated by the Cross River State government to empower 100,000 agribusinesses MSMEs and smallholder farmers (SHF) (up to 40% youths and women) across the 18 LGAs of Cross River State.

Dennis Ikpali of the Project GROW, the driver of the initiative, said market dynamics drive the project to stimulate private sector investments in key agricultural value chains – Rice, Maize, Aquaculture, Cassava and Animal fodder.

New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports, Africa Correspondent