FG Unveils Plan To Boost Rice, Wheat Production

The Federal government has disclosed that plan is underway to boost the production of rice, Wheat, Soghum through the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-pocket, NAGSAP.

The government said the plan will be implemented in five states of Niger, Kebbi, Jigawa, Kano and Sokoto through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme Phase-One (ATASP-1) Project.

NAGSAP is an Information Communication Technology (ICT)-based platform for the delivery of farm inputs such as fertiliser, seeds, agrochemicals, among others, to the farmers across the country.

The programme, being implemented through the ATASP-1 project of the Federal Government, funded by African Development Bank (AfDB), is a direct replacement of the former Growth Enhancement Support (GES) which was re-introduced to address the yearnings of different value chain players.

Speaking in Abuja during a preparatory meeting of  stakeholders for the implementation of the project, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Ernest Umakhihe, said the key objective is to increase the production of wheat, rice, maize, sorghum and soybean through the provision of relevant farm inputs to small scale farmers during wet and dry season farming.

Under the programme, Umakhihe stated that 60,000 smallholder farmers in 26 local government areas of the five ATASP-1 states that are involved in the cultivation of rice, maize and sorghum would be supported with critical farm inputs such as fertiliser, seeds and agrochemicals through the ICT-based delivery platform with a view to increasing their productivities, household incomes and livelihood.

He said the use of the ICT platform in implementing the scheme will not only help to easily evaluate the actual performances and impacts of the programme, but will as well track the transactions between the beneficiary farmers and the input providers with a view to promoting transparency and accountability in the input delivery process to guarantee sustenance of the scheme.

Umakhihe also stated that the project is targeted at supporting over 250,000 wheat farmers with relevant farm inputs to cultivate about 250,000 hectares with expected output of 1,250,000 metric tons of wheat to be added to the food reserve so as to reduce dependence on foreign importation of the product and increase domestic consumption, particularly for the flour millers.

On his part, the National Programme Coordinator, ATASP-1, Dr Ibrahim Arabi, said the objectives of NAGSAP are synonymous with the objectives of ATASP-1 which are; to ensure attainment of food and nutrition security, contribute to employment generation and wealth creation of the targeted beneficiaries along rice, sorghum and cassava value chains on sustainable basis.

Meanwhile not a few Nigerian have said that boosting wheat production is a plan in the right direction considering that it’s majorly used for bread, one of Nigerians staple food.

The war between Russia and Ukraine has led to a distortion in the supply of wheat, and a sharp increase in the price of bread.

Bakers in the country have just announced a 13 percent in the price of bread citing increase in the costs of production.