World Food Day: Enugu Govt. Reiterates Commitment To Food Security

The Enugu State Government has reiterated its commitments to food security and empowerment of smallholder farmers to boost production in the state.

Gov. Peter Mbah stated this during the 2025 World Food Day celebration organised by the State Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-industrialisation on Thursday in Enugu.

The governor, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, said that he was expanding land access through the Enugu state’s agricultural land bank.

Mbah said that the government had secured 130,000 hectares in rural communities, laying a foundation for sustainable growth in Enugu.

He said that the state would deploy a modern machinery base with a target of a thousand tractors through the tractor assembly and service centre in the state.

According to him, so far, 120 tractors have been delivered, 98 others are in order while 800 would be assembled locally to boost timely planting and harvesting.

Mbah added that his administration had empowered small holder farmers across 260 wards by providing them with clear land, improved seedlings, mechanisation, extension services and guarantee market access.

“Enugu State is embracing greenhouse plastic from year-round cultivation using water-saving technologies and rehabilitating key state assets such as United Palm Product Limited and Sunrise flour Mills.

“Agriculture is at the heart of our development agenda with a clear pragmatic pathway built on public investment and private sector participation and with strategic partnership.

“Enugu state is also open for investment and business in the agricultural sector,” the governor said.

He recalled that the state recently distributed improved cassava stems rice seeds, maize and other agro inputs to support and empower farmers in Enugu as well as strengthening domestic market and reducing post-harvest losses.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation, Mr Patrick Ubru, also said that Mbah’s administration was making Enugu the food basket of the country following various programmes and interventions in agriculture.

He said the state government was expanding its land size by adding 300,000 hectares of land to the existing 115,000 hectares that the smallholder farmers were managing.

“So the vision for expanding the land was part of the strategy in ensuring that we expand our production and take our pride of place.

“And through mechanisation and strengthening of rural economy, we are motivating and empowering our farmers to produce more food for the state, South East and Nigeria in general,” he said.

Ubru thanked Mbah for his support and vision towards the development of agriculture in Enugu.

Similarly, the Vice Chancellor, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Prof Alloysius Okorie , represented by Prof. Emeka Nzeh, Faculty of Agriculture, ESUT, attributed the growth of agriculture in Enugu to various initiatives adopted by Mbah administration.

He added that those initiatives would help to eradicate poverty in the state, stressing that the administration had continued to impact into the growth of agriculture innovations in the university.

Alhaji Sani Nnaji, an Agricultural Entrepreneur, while emphasising for more growth in agriculture, hailed the administration for supporting farmers through distribution of agro inputs farmers to 40,000 registered farmers for wet farming season.