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Prof. Etok Okon
Ekanen
Honourable
Commissioner |
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MINISTRY OF
AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
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Our objectives
To help stakeholders, investors
and farmers have a better insight about agriculture in
Akwa Ibom State.
The people of Akwa Ibom are
serious minded farmers. They grow crops; keep stocks
of small ruminants, and fish in the abundant riverine
and coastal waters.
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Whether at home in their
rural and suburban habitations or as sojourners in
other States of the federation, they usually take to
some form of farming/gardening. Indeed large numbers
of Akwa Ibomites live and work as farmers in Cross
River, Delta and Edo States. Thus, the people are
indefatigable and resourceful farmers.
In the face of limited
employment opportunities, agriculture must be
developed to accommodate both the food supply and job
needs of land. Things cannot, however, change
dramatically unless the issues of land availability,
capital, technology adoption, and improved farm-gate
prices for farm products are properly addressed.
The Administration of
Arc. (Obong) Victor Attah has recognized the important
place of agriculture in the economic matrix of the
State’s socio-political makeup. Agriculture is an
employer of labour, a key source of industrial raw
materials, the supplier of our staple food and feed
stuffs and, indeed, the right vehicle for achieving
rapid rural development. Akwa Ibom people have never
been conditioned to cope with famine or beg for food.
If, however, there should be a relenting of effort or
surrender to any of the factors that presently
militate against agricultural development, then we are
bound to be in trouble with food supplies, rural
income earnings and job availability.
The availability of land
remains a critical factor affecting agricultural
production in the State. Market oriented crop
production enterprises require reasonable large
hectarages of land for profitable agriculture. With
oil palm and rubber being so well favoured by the
natural conditions of the State, tree crop production
has high potential if land tenure problems could be
controlled to permit larger holdings. Land limitations
is not however a problem for the livestock and fishery
components of agriculture.
The present
Administration has, in response to the observed needs
of the State’s agricultural sector, put in place
policies and programmes that are bound to change the
sector for the better in Akwa Ibom State while also
having positive impacts beyond.
Responsibilities of
the Ministry:
- The ministry has primary
responsibilities for the formulation, implementation,
supervision and enforcement of polices related to all
sub-sectors of Agriculture. In particular, the
Ministry:
- Seeks to increase
the production, by small holders farmers of the
State’s major food crops (cassava, yam, rice and
plantain) and improve the quality thereof through
extension messages, supply of high-yielding and
disease-resistant planting materials, supply of
improved breeding animals, and timely supply of
appropriate fertilizer types in the required
quantities;
- Promotes increased
production of the State’s major cash crops through the
sale of subsidized improved oil palm and cocoa
seedlings, and rubber stumps in addition to giving
cash crop; farmers technical field back-up and inputs
support;
- Supports the
mechanization of various key agricultural activities
such as land development and cultivation, crop
handling and storage;
- Encourages
and facilitates the procurement, sale, installation
and maintenance of agro-processing equipment in order
to reduce manual labour requirements and drudgery in
operations such as oil production, etc;
- Promotes
the development of aquaculture and facilities capture
fisheries through the provision of infrastructure and
input support in order to harness the fisheries
potentials of the State;
- Provides irrigation
facilities in the major swamp rice-growing areas of
the State; Educates and gives
skills training to farmers and fisher folk of the
State through the organization of suitable periodic
workshops and seminars;
Next |
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Together we Shall Prosper |
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His Excellency, Barr. Godswill Obot
Akpabio
The Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom
State |
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It
is with utmost gratitude to God and immeasurable joy that I stand
before you today as your Executive Governor. On behalf of my wife,
your first lady; my entire family, my deputy and his dear wife, I
thank you, my people, for voting en masse for PDP in the general
elections of April 14 and 21/26/2007. I salute your maturity, courage
and peaceful disposition during and after the elections. I salute you
for reposing your confidence in me right from the primaries of
December 14, 2006 and bringing it to a climax on April 14, 2007. I
assure you that your decision shall never be in vain. Today, we
celebrate our self-worth as a people and our ability to strengthen
democratic ideals by voting according to our conscience. We have
taken the right step in our march towards a glorious future.
Fellow citizens, this is a new era
signifying a renewal and symbolizing an end as well as a beginning.
Above all, we are witnessing, not just the beginning of another
chapter of history but beholding the actualization of God’s will in
Akwa Ibom State.
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