The Minister, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA), Sen. Godswill Akpabio has indicated the willingness of the Ministry to partner with agricultural experts from Cambodia to improve food production in the region through cultivation and processing of special brand of rice specie that is embedded with nutrients, that can address diabetes issues among Nigerians.
The Minister made this pledged when he met with agricultural experts from Cambodia who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja recently.
According to Sen. Akpabio, the introduction of Integrated Agricultural Products and Services Project to the region would not only address the issue of hunger through improved food production, but it will go a long way to changing the socio-economic status of the people of the region and Nigeria as a whole.
Sen. Akpabio said that he was convinced that there is much to benefit from the agricultural project for the people of the region and stressed the need for the Ministry to revisit the Agricultural Partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make funds available to kick-start the production of rice variety in the region.
The Minister, therefore, mandated the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Babayo Ardo to immediately set-up a team to go into technical session with the experts from Cambodia and come up with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), so that the ‘Pilot Scheme’ can commence.
In his remarks, Minister of State, MNDA, Sen. Omotayo Alasoadura assured Niger Deltans that the Ministry intends to reel the people from temporal projects to sustainable projects and programmes with greater emphasis on agriculture.
Alasoadura explained that the Ministry believes that agriculture as a project, if adequately exploited would enable the South-South region feed the nation and export food produce.
Earlier, the leader of delegation, Mr. Peter Ojong Brown said that the organisation is into Agricultural Products and Services, noting that the Special Rice specie could be cultivated and harvested within 90 days.
He also disclosed that the organization is into planting of special Breed of Grass for Ranching, Construction and Fabrication of Ranches for prescribed number of Cows within the State, adding that the company also converts Cow Dunk into Biogas for power generation. “We have specialist that handle and train farmers on how to manage Technology Transfer Scheme”, he said. According to him, the organization is already in Cross River State to initiate the ‘Pilot Farm Scheme’.