Benue State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr Kester Kyenge, has applauded the IITA Zero Hunger Initiative (IITA-ZHI) project for its efforts to ensure food security in the state. Speaking in his office on 15 August, Kyenge reiterated the state government’s commitment to sustaining the partnership for the benefit of the Benue people. The commissioner said this as he hosted a team from IITA-ZHI who visited the state to assess the implementation of the policy recommendations by the project in line with the program’s objectives.
Benue State is one of the three states in Nigeria where the Zero Hunger project is being implemented. As part of efforts toward its actualization, the IITA-ZHI team visited the commissioner at the project’s inception in 2021 to propose policy directions in line with the project’s set goals. The visit aimed to assess the level at which the state government has keyed into these proposals to achieve Zero Hunger.
Dr Kyenge commended the Zero Hunger team for relentlessly ensuring that farmers, processors, extension agents, agripreneurs, and other stakeholders along the cassava value chain are equipped with the requisite knowledge and capacity to ensure food security in the state. He observed that since the state government’s partnership with the project, farmers and extension workers in the state were doing better.
The commissioner highlighted the project’s capacity development efforts, which have resulted in rural farmers and extension agents adopting best practices in cassava cultivation. This has gone a long way in changing the fortunes of the farmers. When the state government officially flagged off the 2022 cassava cropping season in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development Value Chain Development Programme (IFAD-VCDP), some improved seedlings were sourced from IITA-ZHI trained seed entrepreneurs to the delight of stakeholders. According to the commissioner, all these efforts are highly commendable.
The commissioner also briefed the team on the state government’s policy efforts to achieve Zero Hunger. He disclosed that, in 2017, the state government passed an Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranch Establishment Law to address the incessant farmer-herder crisis. He noted that the law is in line with global best practices in animal husbandry and has been adopted by other states of Nigeria.
Dr Kyenge noted that a strong nexus exists between agricultural sustenance and security of lives and property and that security has been on the front burner in Benue. He, however, observed that “it is quite unfortunate that the entire FADAMA belt of Benue has been sacked by marauding herdsmen for grazing purposes. Local governments along the River Benue have become flash points of herder-farmer clashes, which is worrisome as it affects the overall food sustenance policy of the government and, by extension, the Zero Hunger drive which the state is partnering to achieve.” He, however, disclosed that the state government has partnered with the federal government in the area of Agro Rangers to intervene and has launched the State Volunteer Guards to serve as a security intelligence and information sharing network to reassure farmers.
The commissioner commended IITA-ZHI and other partners for their role in building farmers’ and extension workers’ capacity. He noted that, as a system, people are expected to work and retire with new people engaged, which also goes for extension workers in his ministry. He regretted that the state lacked the resources to recruit a full workforce due to dwindling resources. He disclosed that the government had sometimes made extraordinary arrangements to see how some people who are due for retirement can pass down knowledge. He appreciated IITA-CGIAR and other partners for stepping up to the challenge of developing capacity in that regard and appealed that the Zero Hunger project be extended to all the local government Areas of the state.
The project team also paid a courtesy visit to the Benue State University Vice Chancellor and the university management team.
Contributed by Zero Hunger Project Team
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