Ilorin — No fewer than 3,000 youth farmers in Kwara State have been empowered with agricultural inputs, free land clearing and improved seedlings to facilitate improved food security the state.
The empowerment was facilitated by the Director-General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Professor Abubakar Sulaiman, in partnership with a farmer group, Kwara Renaissance Group (KWRG) in the state.
Speaking at the event in Ilorin, Professor Suleiman said that the programme was aimed to address current high cost of food in the country.
He also said that the intervention was aimed to complement efforts of both the federal and state government to ensure food sufficiency.
He added that it will also develop capacity of local farmers in such areas of rice and all food crops cultivation in the state.
"It is an inspiration borne out of the need to feed ourselves and feed the nation because we've been undergoing a lot of crisis.
"Both federal and state government have been doing their best possible, but they can't do everything. We need to complement their efforts.
"We have people that are ready to farm but the issue is how to assist them in their areas of need for better yields.
"Such as farm instrument and tools, farm supplements, fertilizer, farm clearing, improved seedlings and stipends. These are Herculean task to some farmers and that's what we're providing for them.
"As individuals that are resourceful, that have the reach and connection, we also need to complement farmers and governments on what they're doing," he noted.
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Suleiman added:"What I'm doing today is in line with capacity building of our institute to build capacity of Nigerian farmers, so that we can grow abundant food to feed the nation."
The DG NILDS, who said that registered beneficiaries were selected after obtaining forms, added that more beneficiaries would be included in the programme in the nearest future as an ongoing project.
He also said that evaluation and monitoring would be carried out on the people to assess progress on their individual farms, adding that the initiative could go into data bank of the state government to know number of farmers in the state, arable lands, and how federal government can come in to assist them.
Sulaiman also called on every person that God has blessed to emulate the initiative, saying:"We need to assist the underprivileged. And the underprivileged starts from our farmers. When you have food on your table, you have everything. When you are hungry, you have nothing."
Also speaking, the representative of the KWRG, Ibrahim Toyeeb, said that the Amana Farm2feed initiative is capable of increasing prosperity among farmers in the state.
Toyeeb, a tomato farmer, who said that it takes about N60,000 to do farm clearing of an hectare of land, added that the initiative is providing land clearing free of charge with other incentives such as seedlings, agricultural education and enlightenment on more productive way of farming.
"KWRG also have a team that would do monitoring and evaluation of the beneficiaries to ensure we have good results from selected serious farmers," he said.
