‘Aggressive food production’ launched in 8 Plateau communities

The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) has flagged off its “Aggressive Food Production” project in eight communities in Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The projects include cultivation of 200 hectares of maize for the 2022 wet season and drilling of five solarpowered boreholes for dry season farming.

The communities have donated a total of 618 hectares for the project, but the authority is commencing the first phase of production on 200 hectares.

The executive secretary of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, during a visit to the communities, explained that the initiative was part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s effort to scale up aggressive domestic food production.

Prince Ikonne said this was necessary to avert the impact of the Russia/Ukraine war on the country’s food system because of import reliance.

He further said that NALDA was encouraging farmers with the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to aggressively produce food by meeting them at their point of need in their localities.

He assured the beneficiaries of market availability, as NALDA would be off-taking from them during harvest.

During the

visit, NALDA distributed seeds, herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers to about 600 farmers under the project.

In addition to the inputs distribution and crop production, the agency is building goat pens and a veterinary clinic at a central location for the communities.

A traditional ruler, Kanankur Sule Longvel, who received the inputs on behalf of the communities, commended NALDA for being the first to bring such intervention to them.