National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has distributed agricultural inputs to 1,331 farmers affected by flood in 2020 in Ondo State.
The Director General of NEMA, Dr Ahmed Habib, stated this while distributing the Agricultural inputs to the victims on Wednesday in Akure.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the inputs distributed are; Water pumps, herbicides fertiliser and growth enhancers, among others.
Ahmed, who was represented by the Director of Operations, Ekiti Office, Mr Olusegun Afolayan, said the gesture, which was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, was to bring the farmers back to the mainstream.
According to the DG, those who were mostly affected were Maize, Rice and Cassava farmers, saying the distribution will go a long way to assist them.
Ahmed said that the Federal Government was not slow to respond, but rather was delayed due to several factors like climate change and the global economic effect of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“We are here in fulfilment of Mr President’s approval for Agricultural inputs for victims that were affected by flood in the 2020 flood disasters.
“This morning is a day of fulfilment for the beneficiaries to take the farm inputs, so as to assist them in replanting and coming back to the mainstreams of the crops they have planted, and to be able to have a good harvest,’’ he said.
Later, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture and Agricbusiness, Pastor Akin Olotu, commended the Federal Government for the gesture to the farmers.
Olotu, who is also the Chairman of Ondo State Agricbusiness Empowerment Centre (OSAEC), noted that farmers lost not less than N200 million to the disaster.
“This will be the first time that we are having something like this, the genesis of this programme has to do with flood that affected Fadama Farmers who planted rice in 2019/2020 and the serious challenges they had.
“We wrote to NEMA to complain about the flood and relief for farmers, we couldn’t get anything that year and they were able to do something for us.
“This is only covering two local governments; Akure South and Akure North, this is indeed a wonderful occasion, at least, relief has come at last to victims of the flood,’’ he said.
Olotu commended the Federal Government for the gesture as well as the farmers for their patience. (NAN)