Governor Otu to boost Cross River economy with agriculture

 

Nigeria as the business nerve centre of Africa with myriads of ideas can't undermine the overwhelming benefits accrued from massive production of Cassava

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The Governor of Cross River State, Senator Bassey Otu has commenced plans to boost the State’s economy through Agriculture while guaranteeing food and feed security in the sector.

Senator Otu disclosed this weekend when he declared open a Cassava Value Chain Stakeholders’ Workshop by The National Agriculture Growth Scheme and Agropocket (NAGS-AP), held at Transcorp Hotel, Calabar.

He commended the workshop and its theme, ‘Cassava: Maximising the full potentials of Nigeria’s Golden Crop’, noting that it was timely and a response to the call of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who declared a state of emergency on food security.

Governor Otu who was ably represented by the Commissioner for Crops and Irrigation Development, Hon. Johnson Ebokpo, disclosed that a digital state-wide soil and fertility map exercise has been commissioned and is currently ongoing for all crops, adding that one hundred thousand (100,000) hectares of land has been allocated for cassava production and other agricultural programmes.

Otu, while anticipating great financial dividends that may arise in the near future in Agriculture, encouraged Cassava farmers on the need for mass production of cassava, stressing the benefits it would exert on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, with reference to countries like China, Japan and the United States, who have generated income with Cassava production and its value chain.

According to Ebokpo, statistics show that in 2019, China exported more than 4 million tons of cassava and its related products. The United States and Japan exported about 1.5 million tons and Japan 1 million tons respectively.

He optimistically stated that Nigeria as the business nerve centre of Africa with myriads of ideas can’t undermine the overwhelming benefits accrued from massive production of Cassava.

Speaking in the capacity of his office, during an interview with pressmen, Commissioner Ebokpo posited that as a State with rich natural resources and rich soil components, it’s imperative to create an enabling agricultural environment for cassava farmers in order to harness the abound and untapped agro-opportunities to achieve desired goals. He assured that his Ministry shall make use of this comparative advantage and partner with stakeholders from different sectors who are ready and willing to invest in agro-businesses to ensure the development of a sustainable cassava production strategy for the State.

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