Nigeria to Use AFJP Database for Future Agric Interventions – Nanono

The database of all the participating farmers in the Agric for Food and Jobs Program (AFJP) will be used for government interventions going forward, Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono has revealed.

Nanono said that the biodata of the farmers captured was linked with the geographical information of their farm plots, crops and the volume of their produce.

This, he noted, will put an end to ghost schemes and other unscrupulous practices in the agricultural industry.

The minister made this known at the ongoing 44th National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development at the International Conference Center, Abuja.

Nanono also revealed that 2.4 million farmers across the country were initially captured under the scheme, adding that results from the exercise encouraged the Economic Sustainability Plan team to expand it to 10million farmers.

He said that AFJP, as a stop-gap intervention, was originally conceived as an input loan for smallholder farmers across several commodities including maize, rice, cotton, groundnut, sorghum, cowpea, soybean, sesame, cassava and oil-palm.

The scheme, according to Nanono, was brought into partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Commodity Associations and Agricultural Platform Companies for effective facilitation.

In his words, “This we believe will not only improve production significantly but also aid in the off-taking of the produce while providing input at reduced price due to economy of scale”

The minister also said that he was aware of the troubles that the nation is currently going through concerning the farmers-herders clashes which, he said have often resulted in violence and expensive consequences.

He assured that his administration was more committed than ever to resolve the problem on a more permanent solution.

“The National Livestock Transformation Plan has been adjudged worldwide to be a well-conceived project which seeks to transform our livestock sector from the nomadic-dependent sector into an organized ranching one

“To this end, 22 State and the Federal Capital Territory have registered with the NLTP Office, out of which 10 States have created their teams which have been trained by the Federal Office.

“Seven of these 10 States have also earmarked about 19 Grazing Reserves for the implementation of the NLTP, with a total land size of approximately 400,00 hectares,” Nanono noted.

The NLTP, when fully implemented, Nanono emphasised will bring an end to the incessant clashes between the farmers and herdsmen and at the same time introduce the herders to the modern way of raising cattle.