Agriculture now tool for jobs, wealth creation in A’Ibom — Commissioner - Punch Newspapers

The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Offiong Offor, has said the state government is repositioning agriculture from subsistence farming into a major driver of food security, employment and wealth creation. Offor said Governor Umo Eno’s administration had introduced deliberate interventions and leveraged donor-supported programmes to strengthen agricultural production and improve the livelihoods of farmers across the state. She stated this during an interaction with journalists in Uyo on Thursday while reviewing the administration’s performance in the agricultural sector. The commissioner noted that agriculture remained central to the state’s economy, making sustained government investment necessary to increase production, improve access to markets and create opportunities for rural communities. Akwa Ibom has a predominantly agrarian population, with farming activities ranging from food crops such as cassava and vegetables to tree crops including oil palm and cocoa. However, challenges such as poor rural roads, limited access to farm machinery and inputs, and post-harvest losses have continued to affect farmers’ productivity and access to markets. Against this background, Offor said the government’s interventions were designed to address some of the longstanding constraints while encouraging more residents to return to farming. She explained that the governor’s Back to Farm and Home Farm initiatives were aimed at encouraging households to cultivate food crops for domestic consumption and generate additional income.See more Punch stories on Google.Add Punch on Google She said, “That’s how we used to live. He is trying to say, let’s go back to that way. Don’t buy everything from the market. Have a small garden where you can grow small things that you need for cooking and you can even give out.” According to her, the government had also established an Equipment Leasing Company with tractors and other farm implements, which farmers could access at a 50 per cent subsidy. “Farmers get 50 per cent off the regular price to work on their farms. Machines will help you work faster and get more than if you use manual labour,” she said. NIPCO plans $3bn FLNG project in Nigeria State police will tackle food inflation – Lagos Food Bank founder Shettima leads ‘hire from Nigeria’ drive at UNGA Offor added that the government was supporting the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, RAAMP, a World Bank-assisted programme, through counterpart funding to improve rural feeder roads. “The project has earmarked 486 roads across the 31 local government areas. It gives farmers easy market access, reduces post-harvest losses and improves livelihoods,” Offor said. She noted that an 11-kilometre market junction road cutting across Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area had already been commissioned under the programme. The commissioner further disclosed that through the Food Systems Resilience Programme and AK-CARES, farmers had received improved fingerlings, poultry, goats and sheep, as well as cassava cuttings, fertilisers and herbicides. She said more than 16,000 beneficiaries had received input support under AK-CARES, while over 150 rural roads had been graded and 81 wet markets rehabilitated with toilet facilities and slaughter slabs to improve hygiene in meat markets. On tree crops, Offor said the state had launched the Tree Crop Revolution Programme, with a focus on oil palm and cocoa production. “Over 620,000 oil palm seedlings will be shared with 1,700 oil palm farmers across the 31 LGAs. So far, 14 LGAs have received 5,000 seedlings each,” she said. For cocoa, she disclosed that more than 250,000 seedlings were distributed to over 3,000 farmers in 2025, while more than 100,000 seedlings had been distributed to over 850 farmers in 2026. The commissioner said the state was also tracing the origin of cocoa beans produced in Akwa Ibom to ensure that the quality of its produce was properly recognised and not attributed to other states. She added that the governor was establishing a 50-hectare Model Farm as a flagship integrated agricultural project combining crop and livestock production, with plans to replicate the model across the state’s senatorial districts. Offor said the interventions were part of the administration’s broader effort to make agriculture more productive and attractive while using the sector to create sustainable economic opportunities for residents. Emem Julius

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