Buhari Approves Creation Of Farm Estates In 108 Senatorial Districts Across Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) to set up integrated farm estates in all 108 senatorial districts across the country.

NALDA Executive Secretary, Mr. Paul Ikonne disclosed this to State House correspondents on Sunday, after meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Ikonne, who disclosed that the scheme is aimed at engaging youths to achieve food security, called on state governments to make arable lands available for the project.

He said that the land provided for the project would enable the youth to leave the unemployment market and help the country to achieve food security within a short time.

The NALDA boss said the Kogi State government has donated 700 hectares of land to NALDA for the integrated land estate while the 100 hectares of land donated by the Ogun State government has already been cleared.

“What the President is doing, the foundation he’s laying in agriculture, is what Nigerians would live to remember him for,” Ikonne said.

“No other government, no other government, I repeat, has done as much as Mr. President has done in agriculture and that is why Nigeria is coming closer to achieving food sufficiency.

“If not for Mr. President’s proactive initiative towards farming, the COVID-19 would have knocked everybody out, having been locked in a room or in a house for one year, nobody went to farm, but because of the proactive initiatives he took before COVID-19 came, there was enough food for Nigerians to eat.

“Going further, we are seeking more land donations so that states, governments and communities should make their lands available.

“The President has directed that we should put up this integrated farm estates in the remaining 108 senatorial district and NALDA is ready to roll out, and for those states that have made the land available, they can as well testify that no time is being wasted and we have swung into action.

“So, I call on other state governors to key into Mr. President’s desire to make land available for this farm estates to be established, as this will take away youths from unemployment market and engage them and we’ll be able to achieve food security in a very short period of time,” he said.

KanyiDaily recalls that President Buhari said Nigerians will feel the impact of his project after he leaves office in 2023 because his administration’s projects are designed to yield long-term benefits.