By Henshaw NYONG, Uyo.
In a bid to address the food crisis, Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, has supplemented the Federal Government’s donation of 24,000 bags of rice with an additional 24,000 bags of 25kg rice, aiming to support more families in need across the state.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Offiong Offor, announced this initiative during a press briefing at the NUJ Secretariat in Uyo on Friday.
She emphasized that Governor Umo Eno’s proactive approach seeks to alleviate hunger, food scarcity, and poverty without engaging in blame games, urging innovative solutions to uplift citizens.
The Commissioner detailed that each of the 2,272 gazetted villages in the state will receive 20 bags of rice.
According to her, over 100,000 families listed in the social register, who have already benefited or are set to benefit from free food items distributed by the state through the Bulk Purchase Agency, will also be included in this expanded intervention.
The distribution process, involving both the Federal and State Governments’ food supplies, will take place at Local Government Council Headquarters.
Offor revealed that Council Chairmen will oversee the safe transportation of the rice to each gazetted village, with specific distribution dates to be announced soon.
In her words: “We are currently facing a significant developmental challenge: hunger caused by food insufficiency, unavailability, and inflation. This issue, a direct result of macro-economic factors, poses a challenge to both federal and state governments.
“This intervention aims to mitigate the hardship currently faced by our citizens, reducing extreme hunger and poverty in line with Sustainable Development Goal 1.
“A hungry populace can lead to unrest, making food availability, affordability, and security a priority for this administration.”
Highlighting long-term solutions, Dr. Offor mentioned the Umo Eno administration’s “Back to Farm Initiative,” which she said promotes local food production.
As part of this initiative, she said the first and third Fridays of each month have been designated as work-free farming days.
Dr. Offor said her Ministry has implemented several strategic interventions, including distributing cassava cuttings, maize grains, pepper seedlings, and coconut seedlings to 135 public primary and secondary schools.
The Ini-born scholar-turned-politician revealed that over 150,000 cocoa seedlings have been distributed to cocoa farmers, 40,000 oil palm seedlings to oil palm farmers, and 80,000 pepper seedlings to vegetable farmers, adding that Akwa Ibom has also shared 20 metric tonnes of rice among rice farmers and provided livestock and poultry supplies to poultry farmers, amongst others.
