Uduaghan Unhappy With Agric Sector Performance

Governor  Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta on Tuesday in Asaba expressed his displeasure over the poor performance of the state’s agricultural sector.

Speaking at a town hall meeting with farmers in Asaba, Uduaghan said that the assessment report presented to him on the sector was not encouraging.

He said that it was the state government’s commitment to diversify the economy away from oil to an agrarian economy, necessitated the stakeholders meeting to address the challenges in the sector and proffer solutions to them.

Uduaghan expressed regret over the failure of the Youth Empowerment Through Agricultural (YETA) programme, which he said was dear to his heart but recorded only 25 per cent success.

He promised to revive the YETA programme and pledged the government’s resolve to support farmers in the state by building processing industries, among other facilities.

Earlier, the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Misan Ukubeyinje, had reviewed the state’s plan to invest in some of the identified areas of agricultural production such as cassava, rice, plantain, and fish.

He said that in line with the Federal Government’s Growth Enhancement Scheme, Delta State would involve about 15,286 farming families drawn from each local government area of the state.

He said that the state government had earmarked N2 billion to fund cassava programmes, adding that six cassava processing plants and four fish feed mills would be built across the state.

Ukubeyinje also said that the state government planned to build two rice processing mills and purchase 8 new tractors to support farmers in land preparation.

Most farmers who made comments called for adequate funding of agriculture and the provision of rural access roads to enable the farmers evacuate their produce to the markets.

Others called for the sustenance of the state agricultural road map of 2007 and 2008 and the provision of tractors, fertilisers and improved seedlings, among others.