Lagos – The Federal Government has approved N13 billion as intervention
fund for pest control in 12 northern states, to reduce the effects of
COVID-19 on the nation’s food sector.
The 12 `frontline’ states,
to benefit from the fund are Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano,
Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe and Borno States.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development made the disclosure in a statement issued on Saturday.
The
Minister, Alhaji Muhammad Nanono, said that the intervention fund was
to ensure uninterrupted agricultural activities during the 2020 farming
season in the states.
He explained that the fund would also be
used to control trans-boundary pests and minimise the impact of COVID –
19 as well as guarantee nutritional and national food security.
Nanono
emphasised that the present administration “is determined to fight any
menace that will truncate the successes recorded so far in the
agricultural sector”.
He said that government was mindful of
reports of desert locust outbreaks in East Africa and the Middle East
with the possibility of a spillover of locust swarms into West Africa
and Nigeria.
According to the statement, the minister also
performed the flag-off of the 2020 dry season control of trans-boundary
migratory birds for the 12 frontline northern states at the Birnin Kebbi
International Airport in Kebbi.
Nanono said that the flag-off was performed in Kebbi because of the state’s extensive agricultural activities.
“The
choice of Kebbi State for the flag off is deliberate, in view of the
extensive agricultural activities in the state and the immense
cooperation and collaboration of the state government in the
implementation of agricultural interventions over the years,” Nanono
said. (NAN)
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