By Ovat Lawrence.
His Excellency, Prince Bassey Edet Otu has Expressed the State Government’s readiness to collaborate with major Agro technocrats and research institutes to bring about the desired Agro revolution in the state in line with his People oriented policies. “Our vision is very clear, we want to feed Nigerians.Back in history Agriculture was our main stay in this part of our country, today the dynamics have changed”
“it is very clear now that value chains are very important, it’s also very clear that mechanised Agriculture benefit the people extensively, therefore government shall subsidise all factors of production and make sure we create wealth and prosperity for our people, this can be achieved by going back to the fundamentals.”
Governor Otu further pledged to give all necessary support including establishment of outstation for the research institute to ensure optimal performances.
In preparation to launch into a full scale commercial agriculture with the just concluded flag-off ceremony of 12 thousand hectares of land development, the State Government is set to collaborate with two major Agricultural research institutes to boost food security in the state.
The major agro research institutes are; Institute for Agricultural Research Zaria, Kaduna State led by the Vice Chancellor Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Prof Kabir Bala together with the Executive Director Institute for Agricultural Research, Prof. Ado Yusuf, and the Lake Chad Research Institute, Maiduguri, Borno State led by Prof.B.G.I Kabir, alongside their counterpart, Dr. Aliyu Samaila, the Director for value chain development flour mill Nigeria all expressed readiness to partner with the Cross River State Government to grow crops like maize,wheat, Sorghum, millet and Cowpea.
According to the experts, each of the above crops shall require an estimated 100 hectares of land for large scale production.
On arrival , the agro technocrats held some technical sessions with the State Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation development, Hon.Johnson Andiambey Ebokpo KSM, SSA on Agriculture Prof Shiyam John and other Directors in the ministry for quality assurance before proceeding to interface with the Governor.
Having been satisfied with several presentations and interactive engagements with the Ministry, the agric Boss led the team to meet with His Excellency, Prince Bassey Edet Otu, for further engagements and signing of a Memorandum Of Understanding ( MOU).
The signing of MOU is in two phases, first was the signing of MOU between Cross River State government and Institute for Agricultural research, Zaria, Kaduna State led by the Vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Prof.Kabir Bala. The second phase was the signing of MOU between the Cross River State Government and Lake Chad research institute, Maiduguri Borno State led by Prof.B.G.I Kabir respectively for the commencement of these lofty activities.
Speaking earlier, Prof. Kabir Bala, the Vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello university solicited with the State government for assistance on behalf of both teams to establish some outstations within the state for improved performances.
The signing ceremony of MOU was attended by all Directors of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation Development including the Permanent secretary, Mr. Bassey Ekpe , the project Grow Program Director, Mr. Denis Ikpali and his Team as well as the SSA on Agriculture Prof. Shiyam John.
