Cross River State Governor, Sen. Bassey Edet Otu, has said that his administration is spending N6 billion to strengthen human capacity in Agriculture.
Otu disclosed this when he flagged off 12,000 hectares of land clearing for onboarding out-growers.
He said the project sited at Efeidem community in Odukpani LGA is in partnership with the Nigerian Agricultural Mechanization and Equipment Leasing Company (NAMEL).
According to him, the out-growers are expected to cultivate rice, maize, cassava, wheat, coffee and cowpea.
Also , he said his administration is poised to strengthen human capacity in Agriculture, health, education and wealth creation.
Chief Press Secretary Nsa Gill in a social media post said this project would take over 4,000 people out of the unemployment market.
While quoting the Governor he said “Wealth is going to be created in such an unprecedented manner.
“Gone are the days where Cross River is referred to as a poor state,” Governor Otu said.
“We are not coming to take your land. We are coming to empower you in a way that you will make money.”
Also , all the contributors to the value chain would make money. It is going to be a win-win for all,” he assured.
Otu said the direction of their movement is ‘People First’ “No matter what you do, if the people are not happy and strong, the community, State or nation cannot grow,” he noted.
Meanwhile, as a son of Odukpani LGA, he told his kinsmen that they have all the technical and extension officials who would be on ground to make sure that the correct chemicals are applied to boost yield.
Moreso, he said his administration is prepared to launch Cross River into economic prosperity through agriculture.
Hence, the statewide soil investigation and mapping exercise already undertaken to determine what grows where.
He therefore, thanked his kinsmen and women for their unflinching support over the years, and charged them to take the agribusiness project very seriously.
Also, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation Development, Hon. Johnson Ebokpo, noted that the Governor planned some of these laudable programmes years before he took over office as Governor.
Ebokpo said the exercise is part of Otu’s administration’s Project Grow initiative, a Public Private Partnership project facilitated by the Cross River State Government to empower 100,000 agribusinesses MSMEs and Small-holder farmers (SHF) (up to 40% youths and women) across the 18 LGAs of Cross River State.
In addition, Mr. Dennis Ikpali of the Project GROW, the driver of the initiative, said market dynamics drive the project to stimulate private sector investments in key agricultural value chains such as Rice, Maize, Aquaculture, Cassava and Animal fodder.