FG targets 13,000 farmers for empowerment in Abia

The Federal Government is targeting 13,029 farm families for various support schemes in 2013, the Minister of Agriculture , Dr Adesina Akinwumi has said.

Dr Akinwumi said this on Thursday March 28 , 2013  in Ohafia during the inauguration of Abia North Chamber of Commerce, Mines Industries and Agriculture (ANCCIMA).

The minister, who gave a keynote address during the event, was represented by the Director of Cooperatives in the ministry, Dr Dickson Okolo. He said that farmers and out growers in the state would receive 3.9 million bundles of improved cassava cuttings from the Root and Tuber Expansion Programme (RTEP) and other bodies.

“The fertiliser needs of cassava farmers in the state totaling 16, 286 metric tones will be addressed under the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS),” he said.

Akinwunmi said that the Federal Government had concluded arrangements to establish 15 demonstration and trial plots within the out growers network in the state.

“The state Ministry of Agriculture and some private nursery operators are currently raising 214, 288 improved high yielding tenera oil palm seedlings for farmers for expanded field planting in 2013,” he said.