Cross River State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Asu Okang, told The PUNCH that there was no use appealing to those blocking food coming from the north to the south as the blockade would not last long.
He stated, “They can’t block foodstuffs from coming to the South for too long because if you say you are protesting and you won’t go to the market with your food, who suffers?
“That is where tomato comes from. That is where perishable onions come from. That is where perishable carrot and lettuce come from. They are at a loss. I can tell you that it is not the local farmers that are in support of the decision. They won’t be in support because at the end of the day, there won’t be special incentives that will be given to them.
“Nigeria has come to stay as one country and we must understand that no ethnic group is superior to the other. If they decide to hoard what they produce, and the Niger Delta decides to go into that kind of boycott, what will happen? Will there be fuel in the North?”
The Akwa Ibom State Government said its agricultural revolution was aimed at ensuring that 80 per cent of what was consumed was produced in the state.
The state Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Ini Ememobong, who stated this, said, “The agricultural revolution of Akwa Ibom State Government is aimed at ensuring we produce 80 per cent of what we consume in the state.”
The Enugu State Government said it would ensure the state’s sufficient in food production in no distant future.
Speaking to one of our correspondents on telephone, the Commissioner of Information, Chidi Aroh, said the state under the current administration had embarked on so many programmes that encouraged citizens to go into agriculture.
He said, “Our government is not reactionary government, that is why we are ensuring that efforts are being made to be sure that rice farm in Adani is working and our rice production is at its peak.
“That’s why we are doing a lot about Ose Nsukka (yellow pepper) and our cassava production. So we are not reactionary, we are confident that’s why we are doing the (Efi Igbo) Igbo cow project. “
The state chapter of the All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria said that food blockade by north would not last long, adding the northern farmers depended on the South for survival.
The state Chairman of AFAN, Mr Romanus Ezeh, who spoke to one of our correspondents in Enugu, said “AFAN in Enugu State is working with both federal and the state ministries of agriculture in various ways especially in the intervention funds to add value and boost food production in the state.”
He, however, said northern farmers could not survive without supplying their produce to the South.
He said, “The blockade will not last long because farmers in the North cannot survive without marketing their produce in the South.
- “It will make farmers in the East to grow those items that we don’t have down here. With no cows in our bushes, farmers will go back in full force this farming season thereby increasing more production.”
