Anambra To Produce More Food In 2011 – Commissioner

The Anambra State Government says it would produce more than four million tonnes of food in the 2011 farming season from various agricultural activities.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Chief Godson Ezenagu said this in Onitsha in an interview with newsmen.

Ezenagu expressed the hope that the rate of food production in the State this year would exceed that of 2010 adding that in 2010, the State produced 1.73 million tonnes of cassava and 958,000 tonnes of yam.

He further disclosed that the State also harvested about 90,000 tonnes of maize while rice production increased to 36,000 tonnes.

“This year, we expect the figure may not double, but at least we expect to multiply by one and half. “That is to say that in cassava, we are expecting more than two million tonnes and yam more than one million tonnes.

“For maize, we expect up to 1.3 tonnes and rice, we expect up to 45,000  tonnes,’’ he said.

The commissioner said that the state had prepared its farmers for the expected increases in yield through the provision of various agricultural support packages.

The packages, he said, included the provision of improved seedlings and tubers, provision of subsidised fertiliser, as well as cheap and effective herbicides to reduce human labour.

He listed other packages to include soft loan, free agricultural extension services, reduced tractor hiring rate and constant workshop to update the knowledge of farmers on the latest research findings.