Abuja — The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, in a step towards providing employment for about sixty per cent of productive Nigerians, especially those living in the rural areas, has initiated a cooperatives revitalization programme with the theme: The Road To Commercial Agriculture.

The programme is aimed at helping Nigeria, through farmers, to realize its agricultural potentials. It is also tailored at attaining the seven-point agenda of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

Though the specialised cooperatives, which the government intends to develop in all local governments of Nigeria, are already in existence in some locations across the country the government intends to provide capitalisation through microfinance and training of 6,322 cooperative managers from all the local governments in the country. The managers, as designed, will provide technical expertise to the specialized cooperatives while also acting as a feed-back route to government.

As part of the agriculture ministry's three year medium term plan it is expected that the specialized cooperatives will embrace rural-microfinance, agro-input and produce marketing, tractor and farm mechanization services, food storage, food processing and packaging, rural infrastructural development and agro-enterprises development.

In achieving set objectives of the specialized cooperatives the agriculture ministry intends to restructure existing cooperatives to be able to succeed at food production, storage, processing, marketing, capacity building of manpower in order to achieve timely and quality service, and promoting of effective linkages between farmer groups and multi-commodity companies. Livestock and fish farmers will also be equipped to under the scheme, increase their production capacity, access veterinary supplies and processing of and marketing of their products.

Aimed at ensuring food security in Nigeria, rural development, enterprise development in the rural areas, employment generation, declaration of rural-urban drift and creating export market ready agricultural product, the programme, according to Alhaji Sayidi Abba Ruma, the Minister of Agriculture, is sure to succeed.