Akwa Ibom State government has reiterated its efforts to crashing prices of foodstuffs and ensure food availability and affordability in the state.
It identified the the Songhai Farm initiative as one of the efforts aimed at achieving food security, noting that over 100 youths of the state have been trained towards implementation of the programme which is being executed in phases.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Offiong Offor, disclosed these while briefing newsmen on the achievements of the sector in the past one year.
“The Songhai Farm initiative is on course.You see, farming is not something you snap your finger and everything falls into place. It is a process. The activities at that model farm is in different periods.
“So if you pass through there you will see that a great deal has been done.
Agriculture is time bound and you know that what we are growing there are improved varieties that take a short time to yield and in improved quantities” Offor said.
Offor added that the current administration was being strategic in its efforts to break the monopoly and influence of commodity unions fingered to be one of the major reasons for high prices of food.
She threw more light on the worrisome issue, saying “When the Governor introduced the Bulk Purchase Agency, he met with the traders and told them that they are part of the process and that they need to play down on their union.
“He also told them that one does not necessarily need to belong to the union inorder to sell something in the market.
You also know that this union thing has been with us for a long time and you can’t just snap your fingers and stop it.
“But we have dialogued with the traders and resolved that whatever you have to bring to the market let everybody has an opportunity to sell. The market unions have been with us before now and in every part of the country.
” It is not only in our state and not peculiar to food items, because you also see their influence in other products like electronics”.
