FG acquires land in Delta for cassava production

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Akinwumi Adesina has received the Certificate of Occupancy ((C-of-O) of 6,000 hectares of farmland from the government of Delta State. The land, located in Abraka, was donated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) for the High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) nucleus farm in Abraka. This initiative is to support the effort of the Federal Government aimed at massively producing cassava as raw material for flour for the cassava bread initiative, and to reduce Nigeria’s continued dependence on wheat importation.

Disclosing this, Misan Ukubeyinje, the state’s commissioner of agriculture, observed that the “Delta State government has concluded plans for a large-scale cassava transformation in collaboration with the Federal Government through the FMARD and the private sector by the formal acquisition and grant of C-of-O to a large expanse of land approximately 4,000 hectares of land for the cultivation of cassava and processing mill of HQCF. The acquisition of the remaining 2,000ha will be completed soonest, as the target is 6,000ha.”

Akinwumi Adesina expressed gratitude to the state government for this noble gesture, which was the first of its kind coming from any state in the federation. The minister, while commending Delta State for this move, called upon other states to follow suit.

“I was pleasantly delighted when I arrived to receive the news that the Governor of Delta State has already allocated 25ha of land for the establishment of the HQCF plant from a total of 6,000ha for the development of commercial farms to supply the plant,” the minister said.