12 states in northern Nigeria are to benefit from the
N13 billion FG intervention fund for pest control to reduce the effects of covid-19 on the
country’s food sector.
The states 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, Muhammad Nanono, said 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 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.
