By Chukwuka Ugokwe :
The Minister for Agriculture, Senator Abukakar Kyari, has inaugurated the State Working Committee of the National Agricultural Growth Scheme, Agro-Pocket Input Collection (NAGS-AP) under the chairmanship of the State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo.
The programme being implemented through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme (ATAPS-1) project of the federal government is a direct replacement of the former Growth Enhancement Support (GES) which was re introduced to address the yearnings of different value chain stakeholders.
Inaugurating the committee members drawn from sectoral stakeholders at the ADP Hall, Ministry of Agriculture, Awka, Sen Kyari, stated that the key objective is to increase agricultural produce through the provision of relevant farm inputs to farmers.
While describing the programme as a vehicle for the implementation of the agricultural agenda of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, he noted that it had received support of the African Development Bank (AFDB) to the tune of $140Million.
“That is why we are of the view that Implementation Committee at the state level and also of the local government level should be inaugurated so that we can be able to marry the agenda of the state and also that of the federal government in the agricultural industry”
The Minister, who was represented by the ATAPS-1 National Program Coordinator, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Arabi, urged the committee members to dedicate themselves to the task and make sacrifices for the development of the state and nation at large in the battle to address issues of food security.
Responding, the Chairman of the Committee,Governor Chukwuma Soludo, represented by the State Commissioner For Agriculture, Dr Forster Ihejiofor, said under the programme, farmers would be supported with critical farm inputs with a view to increasing their productivities, household incomes and livelihood.
“It will be our job to make sure that all the commercial Farmers are actively brought into the spectrum of this help that is coming.
“That every local government is involved, every ward is involved, every kindred is involved because in Anambra State, whatever we do, we drill it down to kindreds and households”
He, then, reiterated the resolve of the state government to collaborate with the federal government to ensure successful implementation of the programme in line with the solution manifesto of supporting farmers with subsidized inputs.
“We appreciate the federal government for stimulating private sector involvement in agriculture and creating an enabling environment for production of Rice, Cassava, Sorghum”
Contributing, the State Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Arthur Mbuba, enumerated the mandate of the committee to include; monitoring and supervision of inputs deployment, redemption and utilisation, nomination and deployment of data entry personnel, cluster data clerks and supervision of their activities.
Others, he said, are to ensure that farmers choice of agricultural inputs are taken into consideration, endorsement of all the submissions before transmission to Federal Ministry of Agriculture Headquarters, ensure that Redemption Centres are located within 10km radius from the farm clusters.
“The State Working Committee will also work assiduously towards inaugurating the Local Working Committee across the 21 local government areas because it is an all inclusive programme”
Mr Mbuba, who is the Secretary of the Committee, added that the programme aside supporting farmers with farm inputs for production of crops, will also provide institutional support for better performance.
In a remark, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs Ifeyinwa Uzoka, acknowledged that the state had profiled farmers, assuring that the inputs would be distributed judiciously.
“After the inauguration, we can talk about how this beautiful support scheme of the federal government will touch every nook and cranny because it is a state wide support scheme for all the people and then we get to know about the Assembly Points”
The Programme Manager, Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), Mr Jude Nwankwo, appreciated the facilitators of the event and pledged to contribute his quota towards the success of the programme.
Ugokwe is of the State Ministry of Information
