By: EDEM DARLINGTON, Calabar
President Muhammadu Buhari has described Governor Ben Ayade’s agricultural revolution as welcoming and satisfying.
The President made it known when he commissioned the Calabar Seeds and Seedling Factory in Cross River State.
He thanked the governor for keying into the federal government’s zero oil economic road map.
Mr. Buhari said such move “was to make the government less dependent on oil while encouraging investments in other sub-sectors of the economy, particularly agriculture”
He described the rice seed and seedling factory, reputed to be the first in Africa, as a testimony of his government’s giant strides in the agricultural sector.
The President called on relevant government agencies to including the Ministry of Agriculture and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through its anchor borrower’s scheme to key into the project by partnering with Cross River State.
Earlier, governor Ben Ayade, eulogized President Buhari for inspiring him to key into the agricultural sector.
He maintained that the old way of preserving rice seeds was outdated, prompting his administration to go scientific.
The governor said “We needed to change and bring agriculture into a digital age and nexus. It is against that background that Cross River State under my watch, bases on your advice focused on automated rice seed and seedling factory,” he said
“We are just not stopping at providing seeds and seedlings, we have gone further to also set up the first vitaminized rice plant.”
The Calabar rice seed and seedling factory is reputed to be the first of such in Africa with a capacity to meet both domestic and international demand
