The Federal Government has set up the Agriculture and Water Resources Joint Action Committee to harness the resources of both ministries in addressing the challenges of food security and inflation.
The Minister of State for Agriculture, Aliyu Abdullahi, disclosed this at the National Youth Convention in Abuja on Thursday, August 15, 2024.
The convention was organised by the Nigerian Women for Agricultural Progressive and Development Initiative.
Abdullahi said the initiative was geared towards advancing the food security agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
He stated that the ministry had commenced the dry-seeding farming, saying the country would not be able to feed its more than 200 million people if it solely depended on six months raining season for agriculture.
The partnership, according to him, is purposely to encourage all-year-round farming.
Abdullahi said Nigeria is blessed with abundant water resources and many river-basin development authorities that should be harnessed for all-year-round farming in order to ensure food security and self-sufficiency.
The minister stated: “We have approved Agriculture and Water Resource Joint Action Committee which will be looking at food security to enable us to take on dry-season farming in most of the river basins.
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“Our plan is to see how both ministries can collaborate with the River Basin Development Authorities, integrating agricultural experts to enhance farmer livelihoods, increase production and incentivise youth and private sector participation.
“The Ministry of Water Resources brings valuable assets including water resources, land and technical expertise to the partnership; together, we aim to synergise our efforts which provide seeds, inputs and farm machinery essential for food production.
“Currently, we are working with all the farmers in those areas and also working to make sure we remove the things that are constraining the farmers to utilise the opportunity in those areas.
“This will enable us to maximise the benefit of these God-given resources.”
Abdullahi further confirmed recent flooding in some states and identified the menace as part of the challenges of climate change.
According to him, the ministry’s response is to ensure that dry season farming comes to stay because during dry season, one can control the water, what one is planting, and how one plants.
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