Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have revealed that the food security assessment survey conducted in all the 62 Wards in the terriory showed that about 15 per cent of residents are food insecure.
The FCT Permanent secretary, Mr Olusola Adesola, represented by the Director, Office of the Permanent Secretary (OPS) Mr Atang Samuel, made the disclosure at the 8th Regular Meeting of the FCT Council of on Agriculture and Rural Develoment held on Wednesday in Abuja.
Voice of Nigeria gathered that the theme of the meeting was” Evolving Ensuring Strategies towards Commercialisation of Agriculture for Economic Empowerment to Mitigate the effects of COVID-19 Pandemic and Promote Sustainable Food Security.”
He stated that the situation was unacceptable considering the fact that FCT was endowed with rich and vast arable land and water resources that could be harnessed towards improving the livelihood of the citizenry.
He said the FCT Administration through its relevant agencies and Parastatals had continued to implement innovative programmes to address areas of critical needs of small holder farmers.
He added that the administration was exploring avenues to showcase the viable investment opportunities that exists in the agricultural sector.
Adesola stated that the administration through the expertise of it agric extension agents, trained over 5,000 farmers on good practices that could enhance the quality and quantity of farm produce.
He explained that the efforts of the administration cuts across all the spheres of the agricultural sector which includes crop farming, livestock management, fisheries and aquaculture as well as forest conservation.
” I make bold to say that we have made appreciable impact in all of these areas,” Adesola stated.
He urged participants at the meeting to bring their experience and expertise to bear as they deliberate on issues that would help to move agriculture forward in line with the aspirations of the present administration.
Earlier, Mr Ibe Chukwuemeka, the acting Secretary of FCT Agriculture and Rural Develoment Secretariat, assured that the secretariat would continue to work hard with relevant stakeholders towards repositioning the agricultural sector.
He said that the choice of the theme of the council meeting was in line with the present global realities and challenges of food security occasioned by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
He said the the council would do its best to thoroughly look into all the issues towards making impactful recommendation to the FCT Administration.
The participants were drawn from the six Area Councils of the territory to interact and share ideas on how to move the agriculture sector forward in the FCT.
