Minister of Agriculture, Adesina
The Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has received the Certificate of Occupancy ((C-of-O) of 6,000 hectares of farm land from the government of Delta State. The land, located in Abraka, was donated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) for the High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) nucleus farm in Abraka. This initiative was to support the effort of the federal government aimed at massively producing cassava as raw material for flour for the cassava bread initiative, to reduce Nigeria’s continued dependence on wheat importation.
Disclosing this, the state’s Honourable Commissioner of Agriculture, Hon. Misan Ukubeyinje, observed that the “Delta State government has concluded plans for a large scale cassava transformation in collaboration with the federal government through the FMARD and the private sector by the formal acquisition and grant of C-of-O to a large expanse of land approximately 4,000 hectares of land for the cultivation of cassava and processing mill of HQCF. The acquisition of the remaining 2,000 ha will be completed soonest, as the target is 6,000 ha.”
The Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, expressed gratitude to the state government, under the leadership of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, for this noble gesture, which was the first of its kind coming from any state in the federation. The Minister, while commending Delta State for this move, called upon other states to follow suit.
“I was pleasantly delighted when I arrived to receive the news that the Governor of Delta State has already allocated 25 ha of land for the establishment of the HQCF plant from a total of 6,000 ha for the development of commercial farms to supply the plant,” the Minister said. “To accelerate the production of HQCF, the government is supporting the private sector to access cheap financing to import and establish 18 large scale cassava-processing plants. One of the plants, with a total capacity of 72,000 MT per annum, will be located in Abraka, in Delta State,” Dr. Adesina added.
“We will work hard on it to make Delta State a leading state in cassava. We will make sure the farmers of Delta State feel its impact,” the minister promised. He observed that, “with the work we are doing here, this also tells you how we work in this ministry with state governments so that they can diversify their economies and create jobs.” The Minister alluded to the work going on in Kogi State on cassava, adding that, “in Kogi State, the Brazilians cleared 200 ha and planted them in one week.”
Responding, Honourable Daniel Reyenieju, representing Warri Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, noted that “this is a very interesting and progressive move by FMARD. He thanked the government of Delta State that donated the land for the transformation of agriculture in the state, diversifying beyond oil. “The economy of Delta State will be progressively improved,” he said, adding that “the government of Delta State has taken a bold step” in this partnership with the federal government.
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