Food security: FG targets rice, maize, others, for year-round cropping

The Federal Government says its focus is to attain continuous year- round cropping in the dry and wet seasons farming to boost food production in the country.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, stated this while speaking with newsmen  in Abuja.

Kyari said that rice, maize, cassava, sesame, soyabean, sorghum and other staple crops were being targeted for the year-round cropping

The minister said that wheat was the major crop of focus in the 15 of the 36 states in the last dry season.

” Our approach of incorporating immediate, short, medium, and long terms timelines in our strategic workplan is to rapidly develop Nigerian agriculture.

” In this respect, our focus is to attain continuous cropping all year round in both the Dry and Wet seasons.

” Consistent with this, wheat was the major crop of focus in the in 15 of the 36 states in the last dry season,” he said.

Kyari said that the dry season wheat farming programme achieved appreciable success with several states surpassing their allotted hectares.

” As part of the year-round cropping, rice, maize, cassava, sesame, soyabean, sorghum and other staple crops are being targeted,” he said.

He said President Bola Tinubu had prioritized agriculture and food security and had expressed readiness to accommodate a range of ideas that could sustainably develop and encourage investments in the sector.

The minister reiterated the commitment of the government to further expand the investment space in the Nigerian economy.

” Our national goal in agriculture is to boost production and productivity with a keen eye on value addition to our produce,” he said.

He said that the Federal Government has gradually infused mechanisation into agricultural production by enlisting known and reputable agricultural equipment manufacturers from across the globe.