In a bid to deploy existing technical competencies and other resources to improve agro allied-industries development targets, climate change mitigations and smart solar irrigation aimed at dry-season farming, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has sealed a deal with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
The nascent collaboration between NASENI and Agric Ministry is aimed at enhancing the focus and deliverables toward the achievement of the Renewed Hope Agenda by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
At the meeting in which the deal was sealed for the collaboration, the trio of the Minister of Agriculture & Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of State, Hon. Sabi Aliyu Abdullahi and the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NASENI, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu were in attendance.
The Minister, Senator Abubakar Kyari gave insight to some of the essentials in the 8-Point Renewed Hope Agenda of the government, saying that about six of the eight socio-economic recovery programmes have the starting points in their achievements rooted in the success of the Agricultural sector, his ministry. Therefore, the Minister commended Halilu, EVC of NASENI and his team for having agriculture as one of the Agency’s target areas to work.
“I won’t be tired of saying that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given my Ministry the responsibility to carry out one of the important programmes in the 8-point Renewed Hope agenda, which is food security and five others,” he said.
Addressing the Ministry’s top government functionaries, Halilu explained that NASENI’s technical manpower, technologies and international partners were ready to work to ensure that Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in food production, food processing and exports. Part of the efforts in actualizing this goal, he disclosed, is the ongoing NASENI Scheme to refurbish about 50,000 broken tractors across the country under the presidential initiative, aimed at bringing back the culture of large cultivation of lands for farming.
According to him, the management of NASENI has secured both local and international technical partners to work with the Agency to mass-produce Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for spraying insecticides over vast farm locations, sustain afforestation, introduce solar-powered water irrigation to increase wet and dry season farming yields, cold chain food processing and agro-allied value chain additions for preservation and processing of foods in commercial quantities and exports.