NAN-AE-1
Advocacy
Daura (Katsina State), Jan. 24, 2018 (NAN) Federal Ministry of Agriculture has started advocacy visits on its Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise Programme (LIFE) to six local government areas of Katsina State.
Mrs Karima Babangida, the Director, Extension Services in the Ministry, made this known in Daura, Katsina State, when the team paid a courtesy visit to the District Head of Daura, Alhaji Musa Umar.
She said the team was in the state on advocacy visit to communities on how to sensitise people on LIFE.
Babangida added that the team would visit the agrarian communities of Kalgo and Dabiram districts to interact with farmers with a view to gathering information about their needs in terms of agriculture implements.
She said “the six benefiting local government are Daura, Matazu, Kafur, Ingawa, Katsina and Safana.”
The director explained that under the programme, registered farmers would be provided with implements such as harvesters, planters, improved seedlings, insecticides, fertilizer and other relevant implements with a view to boosting food production at local level.
She noted that three million farmers had been registered for the programme nationwide, while two communities were selected in each local government.
She pointed out that women, unemployed youths and farmers were the major targets of the programme.
Babangida said five cooperative associations were also registered in each of the six local government areas selected, stressing that “we would strictly monitor full implementation of the programme across the 36 states of the federation.”
Alhaji Ibrahim Musawa, the Managing Director, Katsina Agricultural and Rural Development Authority, KATARDA, who represented the Commissioner for Agriculture and Deputy Governor of the state, Mannir Yakubu, assured the district head of government’s commitment to promote agriculture.
Musawa said the state government recently procured 110,000 tonnes of fertilizer and distributed same to farmers across the 34 local government areas of the state.
Alhaji Abdulkadir Babangida, the Director, Personnel, Daura Local Government, who represented Alhaji Lawal Ladies, the Acting Chairman of the council, commended Federal Government for the programme.
Ladies said the programme would provide employment and improve food security and economic sustainability, stressing that “we would monitor full implementation of the programme.”
The district head of Daura thanked Federal Government for the programme.
He called on the state government to “consider the possibility of earmarking special allocation of fertilizer to traditional rulers because we are practical full time farmers with large hectares of cultivable farmlands.
“Our teeming young school leavers will be engaged and the nation would earn income from export of agriculture produce.” (NAN)
BKD/FF/HA
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Edited by Fela Fashoro/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu