By Eseoghene Emuke
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has restated his administration’s commitment to the development of agriculture, saying that he would do his best to ensure the state is self-sufficient in the area of food production.
Okowa stated this on Wednesday when he inaugurated 20 tractors purchased by the government to improve farming in the oil-rich state.
The governor, however, warned that his administration will not tolerate misuse of the tractors to the detriment of other farmers in the state.
He noted that the tractors were procured to encourage citizens to go back to farming, adding that it will be suicidal for the state to continue to rely on crude oil.
The governor, who inaugurated the facilities in Asaba, the state capital, assured that the tractors would be made available to every farmer in need of them.
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Okowa explained that of the twenty tractors, 10 of the tractors will go to the State Tractor Agency within the Ministry of Agriculture for hiring at a subsidized rate.
He disclosed that the remaining 10 will be given out to the private sector at subsidized rate.
According to him, “The ministry had proposed that we send all to the private sector but, I was very skeptical about it and I felt that the tractor hiring agencies could easily be reached by some of our people and I hope that that decision would impact us together.
“I wish to appeal and to direct that, it is important that the tractors are given out at appropriate price as agreed and that they are made available to our people.
“The tractor hiring unit must do the right thing; anybody who fails to do the right thing will definitely be brought to book, because the intention of this programme is to ensure that those who want to tractorize their farms are able to get it at a subsidized rate.
According to him, the farmers should be able to make enough gain of their farm produce at the end of the farming year.
Okowa expressed the hope that with the success of the programme, the state government would be able to purchase more tractors in the future, saying “we are encouraging our people to go back to the farm.
“With the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) programme supporting the already existing programmes in the state, I believe that there is a lot to be done in terms of arable crops and cash crops, and I know that Delta State has enough fertile land to truly excel in agriculture.
“I hope that we will continue to do our best to ensure that we are able to feed ourselves and export.
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“I must appreciate the Central Bank of Nigeria for the cassava programme that they have started, particularly the five star cassava programme which is going to engage a lot of our people; at the end of it, no fewer than 1,000 farmers have been involved.’’
He added that oil palm programme was also on course and appealed to traditional rulers and presidents-general of communities to make land available to support all agricultural programmes.
The governor explained that the people who would be engaged in the various agricultural schemes would be from the communities, adding that “if we do not provide land for this purpose, we will be the losers at the end of the day.”
Earlier, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Julius Egbedi, had said that the Delta State-Assisted Mechanization programme provided for farmers in the state, farm machines to facilitate farm land preparation and reduce the task in working the soil for cropping manually.
