The Minister of Agriculture and Food and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari has lauded the Ekiti State Government over the concept and the quality of work at the State Agro Allied International Cargo Airport, describing the project as a critical Infrastructure for driving food security and agro allied industry to the next level.

The Minister who gave the commendation at Ipao Ekiti during a working-visit to the State, also praised the State Government for going into partnership with the private sector to boost agribusiness in the State.

Senator Kyari who arrived the State via the Agro Allied Cargo Airport around 12.22pm on Monday, noted that the facility would guarantee effective and efficient transportation of farm produce from the State and its environs within and outside Nigeria, adding that it would also ultimately generate income for the State and boost food production in its vicinity.

He said “the agro allied cargo airport is a major factor in driving food security and industry to the next level. It is not only key for boosting food production and processing but also taking its agricultural products to the market. This is fantastic indeed. We congratulate the Ekiti State Government for achieving such a wonderful feat. We all know the advantages of such infrastructure and its significant ability to reduce trucking time of agricultural produce.”

Lauding the collaboration between the Ekiti State Government and the private sector on agricultural activities, Kyari pledged the support of the Federal Government for partnerships aimed at massive production of cassava, value chain addition as well as processing of the commodity into food and derivatives such as starch, chips, ethanol and sorbitol.

“This kind of synergy between the private sector players and the Ekiti State Government should be emulated by all states of the Federation. As a representative of Federal Government, I can assure you of our support to ensure success.

Reiterating the commitment of the Federal Government to food-security in the country where everyone would have access to enough safe, nutritious food to meet their needs, the Minister attributed the recent 50 percent drop in the cost of foodstuff in most parts of the nation to increased food production last year, adding that the Federal Government, in a record breaking move, distributed 2.150 million bags (100,000 tons) of fertilizer free of charge to farmers across Nigeria in 2024 alone.

According to him, those hoarding foodstuff are now forced to bring them out for sale in view of the bumper harvest of last year, assuring that the Tinubu administration would maintain the tempo and ramp up production this year through the cultivation of two cycles of farm produce during the year with the aim of ensuring all year-round food cultivation through irrigation farming.

Promising that the Federal Government would not falter in the task of ensuring food security, Kyari also assured of the FG’s assistance in constructing a link road between the two cluster farms at Ipao and Itapaji.

In his remarks, Ekiti State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Ebenezar Boluwade said that the agricultural sector is witnessing a huge turnaround under Governor Oyebanji, adding that Government is working hard to make Ekiti, the number one cassava producing State in Nigeria.

Boluwade added that the present administration had set a target to double its cassava production output from 2 million tons per annum to 4 million tons per annum before the end of 2026

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Expressing gratitude to the Federal Government for the fertilizer released to the State last year, the Commissioner said the move greatly improved food production in the state.

He said “we have several tons of maize, rice and other grains and produce in the stores of the State owned Ile Eye Agro Trading Company which we intend to roll out during off-season with the aim of bringing-down and stabilizing food prices in the state all year round”.

“We are trying hard to boost food security through the synergy between the State Government, private sector, support development partners and the Federal Government. We are committed to bending the curve and currently clearing, ploughing and harrowing land farms at 50 % subsidized rates”.

“Agbeyewa Farms and other private farms are in the heart of our Agriculture Processing Zone. We also have opened farming clusters across the State. What Agbeyewa will do for us is to aggregate and process the commodity for local consumption and export”, he added

Also speaking the Managing Director of Agbeyewa Farms, Mr. Seyi Ayeleso disclosed that business model of the Company centres on massive cassava cultivation, aggregation processing and marketing of the commodity while also diversifying into equipment leasing and other value added services.

He noted that the Agro Allied Company has in the last two years cultivated over 1500 hectares of high yield cassava in farms located in Ipao, Itapaji, Gede and Ikosu Ekiti and had also set a target of cultivating 10,000 hectares of the commodity by next year.