President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigerian farmers stand to reap the benefits of his administration’s reforms as he continues to accord the highest priority to agriculture, describing it as the country’s largest employer of labour and engine of growth.
At a meeting with Katsina State Elders Forum at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the President said his administration will continue to take steps to enhance output and productivity by ensuring the availability of cheap agricultural credits, farm inputs, fertilizer, and the introduction of latest technologies.
The President in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the choice of practising farmers as Ministers in charge of Agriculture, first, Audu Ogbe and now, Sabo Nanono, was a reflection of his strong wish to protect the interest of farmers and the attainment of national food self-sufficiency.
He agreed to look into the request of the Katsina Elders for the expansion of existing irrigation schemes at Zobe and Sabke Dams to enhance employment and profitability in agriculture, saying that a situation in which 60% of the State is productive in rain-fed agriculture for three to four months, and idle for the rest of the year was unacceptable.
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The President told the meeting that he had charged his Ministers of Agriculture to work with the states to rediscover the lost animal grazing routes and reserves as a means to ending the frequent outbreak of violence between farmers and herders.
Leader of the delegation, Aliyu Balarabe Saulawa, representing the Chairman, Ahmadu Kurfi, Maradin Katsina, commended the President for returning peace to most parts of the State and for the various infrastructure projects, including the Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Maradi rail line.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
