Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has restated the commitment of his administration to achieve food security through mechanized agricultural production.
Governor Diri stated this in Yenagoa, the state capital, at the flag-off of this year’s Farming Season.
The governor who was represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, noted that although Bayelsa State has comparative advantage in almost all areas of agriculture, the present administration was focusing on four key areas of rice, cassava, fishery and plantain production.
A statement made available to The Tide by the Media Aide to the Deputy Governor, Mr. Doubara Atasi, says that the governor called on farmers and other development partners to join hands with the state to revolutionize agriculture and transform the economic fortunes of the state.
The governor reiterated that the fulcrum of his prosperity agenda lies on the four cardinal points of agriculture, entrepreneurship, skill acquisition and youth empowerment, assuring that government would not rest until it achieves food sustainability and self reliance in several areas of the economy.
He maintained that government has started the DiriBoost Empowerment Scheme in addition to securing a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), loan facility to boost agricultural and small-scale entrepreneurial activities.
The statement added that Governor Diri also called on youths of the state to take advantage of government’s huge investment in the agric sector to be self reliant rather than being dependent on public office holders for their survival.
The state chief executive maintained that Bayelsans should see farming as a dignified profession,just as he noted that government was willing to support farmers in order to make the state self sufficient in food production.
“Our people have been using crude, difficult and very challenging methods to produce agriculturally. And so, they have not been able to produce enough food for us to eat and sell to make good money”, he said.
“The Prosperity Government does not believe in that method of production. We believe in mechanized agricultural production. But to succeed, we believe that all of us must put our hands on deck to achieve greater prosperity through agriculture.”
“As you are aware, a lot of farms have been established and clearing is ongoing in several communities for the purposes of ensuring that we have food sufficiency.You are also aware that the Federal Government and the State Government are partnering and we have obtained some loans through the gracious efforts of the CBN for which capacity is being deployed”, Governor Diri noted.
Also speaking, Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Chief David Alagoa, described food as the essence of life and praised farmers for their resilience through the trying period of the novel Covid-19 pandemic.
He restated that government was taking steps, including engagement of development partners and farmers to transform the agricultural sector, empha-sising that the state’s Ministry of Agriculture would serve as a rallying point for the growth of the sector in the state.

Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa