GOV SOLUDO LAUNCHES 2022 FARMING SEASON IN ANAMBRA

REPORTER: BEN ILECHUKWU

Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has launched the 2022 farming season as part of measures to boosting food production in the area.

Governor Soludo, who launched the exercise at the Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, said the purpose was to make agriculture a pivotal contributor to the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Governor, who explained that subsistence farming had been the mainstay of the people from time immemorial, said his administration would reenact the palm revolution as well as the launch of the coconut economy.

He harped on the need for people to return to regenerative farming as the best means of agriculture, which had been proven to be healthier.

The Governor, who pointed out that his administration was committed in it’s drive to mechanize farming, said that the youth farmers would be duly empowered to engage in agriculture for sustainable development.

The Governor added that his administration would stimulate agro-business and investment by leveraging on the opportunities created by the Anambra regenerative or traditional farming to boost export of palm produce and coconut.

Professor Soludo revealed that the state would partner the African Development Bank (AFDB) and the Federal Government of Nigeria under the Agricultural transformation Agenda towards projecting the development of infrastructure to boost the production of rice and cassava in the area.

Earlier the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Foster Ihejiofor, thanked the Governor for supporting different interventions aimed at taking agriculture to an enviable height in the state.

The Commissioner further stressed that farmers from the 21 local government areas of the state were due to receive incentives, including improved cassava stems, rice seeds and multiform modern seedlings.

Dr. Ihejiofor noted that the ministry would be working with farmers to systematically migrate from chemical based conventional farming to regenerative biology-driven farming.

He said that some bags of compost at highly subsidized prices were readily available for immediate commencement to regenerative agriculture.

The event featured a symbolic planting of the coconut and palm tree by the Governor and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Uchenna Okafor.

The theme of the 2022 farming season is, “Empowering Women and Youth through Regenerative Agriculture for Sustainable Development.”