Dr Abdulkadir Mu’azu, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, says traditional institutions has a critical role to play in promoting agricultural transformation in the country.
Mu’azu made the assertion when he paid a courtesy visit to the District Head of Dutsin-Ma, Sada Mohammed Sada, on Tuesday in Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister was on an inspection tour to the 25, 000 metric tonne Strategic Grain Reserve in Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State on Tuesday.
He said: “Up till now, agriculture contributes up to 40 per cent to our GDP and it has the potential to do more.
“But this cannot be achieved except with the support of everyone especially the very important traditional institutions.
“We are in the ministry as public servants because of farmers, they are the actors.
“Everything the president is doing is to support farmers to produce more food to help themselves and improve their livelihood and ensure food safety”.
While commending farmers for working hard to feed the nation, he sought the support of the traditional institutions in the management of agricultural projects in their community.
“Silos are very important national assets and critical to ensuring that we have food that will feed our people when the need arises.
“We seek your support to continue to help the government in promoting agriculture,” he said.
Responding, Sada lauded the Federal Government’s effort in repositioning agriculture, saying that farming was the major occupation of the people in the area.
“Our mainstay here is agriculture and we thank God we have a dam and the town is known for rice cultivation.
“We also thank God for the Muhammadu Buhari led government because of efforts to reposition the economy, particularly the border closure.
“As we speak; rice farmers in this community are happy. There was a time that many farmers were running away from rice cultivation but today they are into it due to its lucrative nature.
“One good thing is that our rice has a high nutritional value,” he said.
The district head pledged the support of his council to ensure that agriculture took its pride of place in the country.
NAN reports that officials of the ministry are touring the country to ascertain the state of grain reserves as part of the effort to enhance food security.