Out of this amount, N1.5 billion would be invested in land development; N2 billion channeled towards the provision of infrastructure; and N600 million for the procurement of agronomical input and machineries.
Governor Willie Obiano who disclosed this at the weekend at the Central School Field, Atani, the headquarters of Ogbaru Local Government Area of the state, while performing the official flag-off of this year’s 2018 farming season, explained that he allocated such a huge sum of money to the agricultural sector because when he looked at the trend in the national economy, he felt justified in his decision to make agriculture the number one pillar of his economic blueprint.
Obiano further disclosed that his administration’s approach to mechanized agriculture and his penchant to encourage the production of target crops for backward integration and stimulation of agro businesses and investments in agricultural sector would remain a top priority.
According to Obiano, “Efforts to make people embrace agriculture has yielded an impressive result in outgoing years where over 3,000 farmers were duly registered to bring the number from 106,000 in 2016 to 109,037. “Similarly, the state government recorded an increase in the number of co-operative societies from 2,285 in 2016 to 2,401 in 2017 planting seasons, which enabled the state government to record an outstanding progress in rice, cassava, vegetable, maize, honey and fish productions.”
Earlier in a welcome address, the chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Transition Committee, Hon. Arinzechukwu Awogu, commended Obiano for choosing the local government as the launching pad for this year’s farming season.
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