Following the soar-away success the gov­ernment of Anambra State has so far re­corded in attracting signifi­cant investments into the ag­ricultural sector of the state, plans are under-way for a high-level town hall meeting on agriculture to be hosted by the government in col­laboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.

The planned meeting is one of the highlights of a closed-door meeting that recently took place in Abuja between the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina and a special delegation from Anambra State Ministry of Agriculture led by the gover­nor of the state, Chief Willie Obiano.

The meeting came on the heels of a string of Memoran­da of Understanding (MoUs) the government of Anambra State recently signed with big-time investors who are cur­rently setting up shops in the food belt of the state to com­mence large-scale mechanised farming.

Giving assurances of the ministry’s readiness for the proposed meeting, Dr. Adesi­na said: “We are going to have a special agricultural engagement in Anambra State. I will come with a strong team and we shall have high-level delib­erations on agriculture.”

According to him, the Fed­eral Government had just ap­proved an agricultural mecha­nisation scheme estimated at N50billion, which would finally weed out the depen­dence on hoes and cutlasses by Nigerian farmers. The mechanisation support grant would enable the farmers to hire tractors and engage in modern farm practices.

The minister also declared that the Federal Government would fast-track the full reali­sation of the proposed Staple Crops Processing Zone that had been designated for Omor in Ayamelum Local Govern­ment Area of the state, de­scribing the mill as very im­portant to his ministry.

Dr. Adesina also lauded Governor Obiano’s achieve­ments in the past six months, saying the strides, had fully restored the confidence of the investment community, lead­ing to the recent acquisition of the moribund Omor Rice Mill by Joseph Agro Limited and the planned investment of $150million to revamp the mill.

Said he: “My ministry is one of the first few places you vis­ited when you were sworn in as governor of Anambra State. You are one governor that got it right. You came here to share your plans for the agri­cultural sector and I could see that you were very passionate to make an impact there. Your administration is moving at an incredible speed. I think it comes from your private sec­tor background. I followed your efforts to provide secu­rity in Anambra State and I am happy that the benefits have started pouring in now.”

The minister also assured of the readiness of his ministry to partner with Anambra State in aqua-culture, promising to lend critical support to Obiano’s plans to make the state a leader in the production of fingerlings in the country.

Earlier, in his opening re­marks, Obiano had appealed for the assistance of the min­ister to ensure that Anambra State was adopted by the ministry as one of the leading ag­ricultural states in the country.

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=84760

http://allafrica.com/stories/201410060756.html