Food security: Niger Govt partners AFAN on dry season farming

Niger State Government has entered into a service-level agreement with the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Niger State Chapter, for dry season farming in order to boost food security in the state.

Also involved in the partnership is the Food Security Systems and Logistics Company Limited.

The state governor, Muhammed Umar Bago, said the development is a milestone in his administration’s revolutionary plans for the agricultural sector.

He explained that plans are on for the state to make a transition from subsistent to mechanized farming, adding that soon Niger will cease to be regarded as a civil service state.

He assured AFAN that farmlands and all arable lands would be cleared in order to drive away all criminal elements, noting that security of lives and property remains paramount to his government.

The governor equally appealed for AFAN’s unflinching commitment for the agreement to achieve the desired result.

Under the agreement, AFAN will serve as out-growers of different kinds of food for the 2024 dry season farming, while Niger State Government will provide 550,000 hectares of land to 35,000 farmers to produce three million tonnes of food.

Also, the farmers are expected to use their own lands and water resources just as the state government provides them with inputs worth N30 billion.

According to the agreement, the state government will get back its money from the produce and 40 per cent of the profit will go to the farmers while the government will take the remaining 60 per cent.

Speaking, the Chairman, of AFAN Niger State Chapter, Alhaji Shehu Galadima, appreciated Bago for his foresight in revamping the agricultural sector saying, ” The agreement signed would make farming become a business venture and would add value to the economy of the state”.

Similarly, the Chairman, Niger Food Security Systems and Logistics Company Limited, Chief Sammy Adigun, noted that the partnership will serve as an invitation to others to join the farming business and tap from the enormous wealth that abounds in the state.