Cross River State Governor Prof. Ben Ayade has disclosed his administration’s commitment to boosting agriculture in the state through mechanised farming.
The governor made the disclosure at the weekend while taking part in the harvesting of rice at his private farm in Obanliku Local Government Area of the state.
He identified Agro-industrialisation as the only antidote against unemployment in the country.
Ayade who described farming as the surest way to poverty alleviation thanked President Buhari for creating the enabling environment for those interested in going into farming as a full scale profession.
His words: “as a professor with very strong background in private business before going into private business and then politics,  President’s Buhari’s policy focus on agriculture was very clear to me and I took advantage of it and kinetically crystallised it to the product of what you see here today, Ayade farms.
We are encouraging young men and women to go into agriculture and take advantage of the modern agricultural techniques my administration has put in place to enable them enjoy themselves while earning a living.

The Governor used the opportunity to announce a modification to the annual Calabar Carnival starting from next year.According to him, from next year, the yearly international tourism Fiesta will have a new segment called “the agro cultural carnival.”

“Next year we are going to have a twist, we are going to have a carnival called the “Agro-Cultural Festival”, which means every local government will showcase their farm produce and we are going to have full beneficiation plans,” the governor stated. ENDS