According to a news report from Kwara State Government News Website, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Saturday conducted an extensive tour of rice plantations in the Edu and Patigi local government areas of the state. This tour was aimed at evaluating the impact of the seedlings, fertilisers, and other inputs recently provided by the state government.

Representing the Governor on this tour was the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Toyosi Thomas-Adebayo, accompanied by the Director of Personnel Finance and Supply in the Ministry, Mayaki Babadzuko Ma'adu.

The visit to Edu and Patigi will be followed by a subsequent 'feedback mission' to Kaiama and other parts of the state to inspect maize and soyabeans farmlands, among others.

Last week, the Governor personally inspected the Kwara Youths Farm in Malete (Moro LG), where at least 1500 hectares of land are being cultivated for soyabeans production this farming season.

The government had recently launched the distribution of seedlings, fertilizers, and other farm inputs to support 10,000 farmers across the sixteen local governments. It is to ensure bumper harvest and promote food security, the Governor had said.

Speaking to reporters in Edu on Saturday, the Governor said: “Today, we are here for a monitoring exercise to meet (rice) farmers, who benefitted from the government's interventions, and check their farms to make sure that what they have been given were put to use. That is the main purpose of the exercise.

“One of the things we do as a government to improve food security is to improve productivity. One of the ways we do that is to give timely and quality inputs to our farmers.”

The rice farms visited were in Lafiagi Ward 1 and 2 of Edu; Lade, Sakpefu-lade, Sheshi and Rogun in Kpada Ward 2 of Patigi local government.

At least 20,000 hectares of land are being cultivated for rice production in the areas covered, according to locals.

AbdulRazaq expressed satisfaction with the happenings on the farms and commended the farmers for their commitment to the food security drive of the government.

“I am very happy about what I have seen. Clearly, the farmers have put to use what they got. We have been able to motivate our farmers to do more. We also have a number of farmers waiting to get support from the government and they will get in due course,” he added.

“We have carried out three interventions this year. We started with free input to 3,400 rice farmers and we did another one under the NG-CARES FADAMA for 600,000 farmers which included assets like boats for fishermen and the recently concluded intervention (Agro chemicals, fertilizers and seeds for 10,000 farmers). Even with all these, we still have more farmers seeking the support of the state government. So, we are going to support more farmers.”

Most of the farmers, who spoke with reporters, took turns to eulogise the Governor's support to boost farming activities in Edu and Patigi local governments of the state, and solicited for more.

Bala Sa'adu from Lade Community said farmers under Dukulade Irrigation Scheme have benefitted immensely from the present administration, particularly with the regular provision of farm inputs and desilting of blocked canals, where they source water for their farms.

“About two years ago, when the entire canal was filled up with sand, we appealed to the Governor to help us desilt it. The government supported us with about N7million to rectify the problem. And everybody had a bumper harvest last year. The canal served us so well until recently that it was blocked again,” he said.

“The government has also provided us with fertilizers, chemicals, and rice seeds free of charge. We all know how much a bag of fertilizer costs now. So, all these interventions are very commendable because it will reduce the cost of production.”

Sa'adu requested the government to also assist in fixing their blocked canal.

Alhaji Muhammad, Secretary of Sakpefu community who praised the government for various support for rice farmers, appealed for an extension of their farmland to increase their yields.

Muhammadu Kudu Yakub, who spoke for rice farmers in Lafiagi, appreciated the government's support which he said has assisted their farming activities a lot.

“We are predominantly farmers from the Lafiagi community. We are into crop production such as rice, maize, groundnuts, beans, potatoes, and cassava. We really thank the government for every support to strengthen our occupation. It has really assisted us. But it has not gone round. We need more support, especially pumping machines so that we can access adequate water to improve our production,” he said.

The Ministry had earlier visited other local government areas on the same mission, including Asa and Ilorin East.