Leadership (Abuja)
Edem Edem
15 May 2008
Abuja — In order to stem the effects of the current national food crisis occasioned by the sharp increase in the price of rice, Governor Liyel Imoke has said he has decided to go into rice farming to complement government's efforts.
He announced that he would be cultivating at least 10 hectares of the crop twice a year to boost availability of food in the state and afford him economic gains. He also mandated each member of the state executive council to state the particular crops each of them would cultivate in the current planting season.
Imoke disclosed that as a policy of his administration to boost agriculture, all members of the state executive council must cultivate at least 10 hectares of farmlands during the current farming season. Reiterating his determination to carry on with the policy last week during a parley with journalists in the state, he said May 12, was the deadline for every member of the state executive council to state the crops they wish to cultivate.
He said the current shortage of rice in the country has helped him to arrive at the decision to embark on rice farming. "I'm going to start rice farming since I can see there is a shortage of rice in the country, let me take an economic decision here. So right now if I can get 10 hectares of rice, I believe that it will be comfortable for me. And if I do it twice a year I will get a reasonable yield," he declared.
Cross River State is blessed with a large expanse of arable land suitable for cultivation of various cash crops, including cocoa, timber, pineapple, plantain and banana, among others.
Imoke believes that if fully harnessed it would make the state self-sufficient in food supply and generate income to boost its revenue base as well as provide employment for the teeming unemployed youths in the state.
Speaking on the agricultural programme of the state, Imoke stated that the programme was on and that government was committed to it.
"I think that we should lead by example. Our people are all looking for government job, government employment and yet out there are opportunities. What we need is to support them by providing those who are field-minded, with inputs, provide them with financing under the CARES programme", the governor stated.
"That support ranges from incentives such as subsidisation of the cost of fertiliser, incentives such as providing with equipment they can rent, equipment they can use and incentive such as land clearing. Government could clear land for them at little or no cost. Incentives such as provision of seedlings for them to crop and then incentives such as providing them with extension services, meaningful extension services and trained extension workers who can show them how to improve their yield. So, this is what CARES is all about, it is not about government going into the business of farming."
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