Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has said his administration has earmarked a substantial seed money to encourage massive cultivation of cassava across the state.
Governor Wike made the promise at the inauguration of the Rivers State cassava processing plant at Afam Town in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state on Thursday. The governor stated the willingness of his administration to encourage proper cultivation of the vast fallow land available in all local government areas of the state to ensure that the processing plant does not lack raw materials. He said the seed money would not be administered like previous grants offered by the state government, but will be given to genuine farmers after being verified to encourage increased production volume of cassava in the state.
“The other day, I went to see one of my friends. I went to his farm of over 56 hectare of land. He’s trying to cultivate cassava and I was very impressed.
“And I told him, that government will identify and verify those genuinely involved and are registered as cassava producers. Apply to us that you want to farm one hectare of land for only cassava.
“Government will give them seed money to continue farming cassava so that there will be no problem of Cassava supply to this plant.”
Governor Wike explained that it is no more fashionable for youths and leaders of local government councils to be content raising revenues from stickers, urging them to avail themselves of opportunities offered by the cassava processing plant.
He solicited for more loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria to consolidate the visible gain that has been made already in boosting agriculture in the state.
Meanwhile, the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has tasked all 36 state governors across the country to make their domains economically viable by investing more in agriculture, particularly in crops in which they have comparative advantage.
He gave the charge in Port-Harcourt, at the launch of the Rivers Cassava Processing Company Limited, designed to support improved production and processing of cassava into high quality flour.