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The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, has distributed some farming inputs at a subsidized rate to 7,920 farmers in Benue for the 2024 wet season farming.
The items were presented to the beneficiaries on Friday in Makurdi
Speaking at the event, Mr Boniface Tongov, Co-ordinator of the ministry in Benue, said that the beneficiaries paid 25 per cent of the total amount of the items.
He added that the gesture aimed at boosting food production in the state and the country in general.
Tongo explained that each beneficiary had three bags of fertiliser, one bag each of improved seeds of maize, sorghum, soybean and rice.
”Each beneficiaries also got four litres of herbicides and pesticides, all at a subsidised rate.
”This gesture is basically to boost wet season farming, enhance food production, ensure balanced nutrition and create more jobs,”he said.
The coordinator, who warned the beneficiaries against selling the items, said that anyone caught would not be spared.
Tongo further said that the beneficiaries were carefully selected from the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Earlier, Mr Terese Ninga, the Director General, Benue Bureau for Agricultural Development and Mechanisation, thanked the federal government for the gesture, insisting that the move would eradicate hunger.
Ninga, however, advised the beneficiaries to put the inputs into good use to enable bumper harvest in the state.
Also speaking, Mr Moses Ogbaji, the Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, said that the gesture would ensure higher and better yield in the state.
”This intervention will present Benue as the true food basket of the nation,”he said.
Mr Fidelis Akosu, the Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in the state, thanked the federal government for the support to farmers Benue state
He, however, called for more initiatives and programmes that would promote food production and address hunger in Nigeria.
NAN / Foluke Ibitomi