By Amos Aar
THE FEDERAL Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning has distributed agricultural inputs to 240 farmers in Benue.
The distribution was done during the training and empowerment of verified and validated beneficiaries of National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS) on Wednesday in Makurdi.
The Permanent Secretary, FMAFS, Mr Temitope Fadeshemi, said that the aim of the distribution was to reduce poverty in Benue in particular and Nigeria at large, stressing that the programme was taking place in all the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Represented by the State Coordinator, Mr Boniface Tongov, Fadeshemi lamented that the level of poverty in Nigeria was alarming, stressing that an estimated population of 88.4 million people in Nigeria was living in extreme poverty.
“The number of men living on less than 1.90 U.S. dollars a day in the country reached around 44.7 million, while the count was at 43.7 million for women.
“Overall, 12.9 per cent of the global population in extreme poverty was found in Nigeria as at 2022.
“This is why the Federal Government of Nigeria through the FMBNP in collaboration with FMAFS is making conscious efforts at reducing the spate of poverty across the country,” Fadeshemi said.
Meanwhile, the Director-General (DG), Bureau of Agricultural Development and Mechanization, Engr Terese Ninga, commended the federal government for taking the bold steps to reduce poverty through agriculture.
Represented by the Acting Director of Agricultural Services, Mrs Comfort Anum, Ninga advised the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the inputs in order to enhance their income and not to sale them.
Also, the Senior Agricultural Officer, Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, Linda Ukpoju, disclosed that the programme was targeted at lifting poor people especially rural farmers out of poverty.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke to National Record including Mr Mson Bem, Mbakeren Agwa, Mary Ajai and Mary Onuh, all appreciated the federal government for the gesture, promising to make adequate use of the inputs to improve food security and their well being. Highlights of the occasion were the presentation of a knapsack sprayer to each of the beneficiaries. Crop farmers were given rice, maize, tomato, okra and pepper seeds, herbicides and inorganic fertilizer while fish farmers were given feeds. Also, poultry farmers were given a carton of a day-old chick and feeds.
