By Lawrence Mpama
The Wife of the Cross River State Governor, Bishop Dr. (Mrs.) Eyoawan Bassey Otu, has stated that the Renewed Hope Initiative in the agricultural sector by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration, was intended to boost agricultural production and food sufficiency in the country.
She made the remarks in Calabar while addressing media practitioners on the policy framework and prospects of the programme.
Represented by the Senior Special Adviser, Administration, in the Office of the First Lady, Dr Comfort Oko, Bishop Dr. Eyoawan noted that the project was a key component of the Tinubu led administration in the agricultural sector, which is being spearheaded by the Wife of the President, Senator (Mrs.) Oluremi Tinubu CON, as National Coordinator while she leads the State vanguard as State Coordinator.
She contended that a total of 320 persons and 30 schools are earmarked as the first beneficiaries of the scheme in the State while 60 homes are to be empowered across the 3 senatorial districts.
The State First Lady enumerated the gains of the programme to include ensuring self sufficiency in food production, food security in the country and sustainable development while equally encouraging garden farms and revitalizing the Young Farmers Club across the state .
Bishop Eyoawan Otu went further to affirm that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Cross River State Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation Development will be supervising the project at the federal and State levels , respectively.
She equally expressed optimism at the success of the programme in Cross River State, adding that each State has been empowered with N68, 913, 513.50 only, in the first phase of the programme while other interventions were being awaited.
The First Lady allayed fears of inconsistencies and failure and assured that with the programme tailored in conformity with the broader outlook of the Tinubu administration’s philosophy of food sufficiency, the Renewed Hope Initiative embarked on a series of agriculture focused initiatives in order to get to the target audience.
The Women Agricultural Support Programme (WASP), she emphasized, was an all embracing initiative targeted at one woman drawn from each of the wards in the State. Those chosen will be trained in line with their agricultural preferences on fishery, crop production and poultry farming. She informed the newsmen of the government preparedness to fully equip those who choose fishery farming with 200 juveniles, 1 fibre tank and 2 bags of medications while those in poultry will be given 50 day old chicks, 2 bags of starter feeds and 2 bags of finisher deeds, each. Also in crop production, those earmarked for it will be empowered with improved maize seeds, okra, pumpkin seeds, organic fertilizer and watering cans, among others.
Also in the pipeline are many agricultural activities that would engage the youths of the State. These include but not limited to fishery, crops, poultry, baking and confectioneries as well as groundnut extraction for participants from the northern senatorial zone. To this end, at least 60 participants are earmarked to benefit from the initiative with 3 beneficiaries drawn from each Local Government Area.
This highly commendable initiative of the federal government in the agricultural sector will undoubtedly bring financial succour to thousands of households across the State, thereby ensuring food sufficiency and employment generation across the country.
