Edo State & PIND Host Access to Arable Land Workshop

The Edo State government, in collaboration with PIND, organized the Edo State Access to Arable Land Workshop on Thursday, August 18, 2022, at the New Festival Hall, Government House, Benin, Edo State.

The event served as a forum for key stakeholders in the agriculture sector to deliberate on how farmers in the State can gain access to arable land. The state governor, Godwin Obaseki, was represented by the permanent secretary to the State Government, Deborah Enakhimion.

In his welcome address, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Peter Aikhuomobhogbe, said the Access to Arable Land project’s objective was to ensure food security in Edo State and land is available for investors.

“The international community has become very worried about the rising prices of food commodities such as sugar, eggs, etc.,” he said. “This has been attributed to the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The answer lies in smallholder farming as it can be an effective way to raise food production and stimulate income and employment opportunities so that today’s poor rural people can be tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.”

He said smallholder farmers provide as much as 70% of food in Nigeria but face increasing constraints from climate change and natural resources. “These are preventing them from becoming the engine room of the economy,” he said. “This workshop [therefore] seeks to focus on small-scale farming as a business with emphasis on increasing access.”

He noted that no country has risen out of poverty without increasing its agricultural output.

In his speech, PIND’s Advocacy Manager, Chuks Ofulue, said the workshop’s goal was to come up with ideas to present to the state governor legislation towards land access. He appealed for partnerships enabling farmers to access land for agricultural productivity.

“Without the farmers, we won’t have food,” he said. “Nigeria is a growing country, and we have all that it takes when it comes to agriculture. This workshop is for us to showcase Edo State as an agricultural hub. Whatever happens, we want Edo State to be safe regarding food.”

In her address on behalf of the state governor, Mrs. Enakhimion commended PIND and other partners for curating actionable solutions for implementing the access to land project. She said land access has consistently been a critical constraint to productivity in Edo State and the Niger Delta.

“This is why PIND commenced a study to understand the availability of land in this area,” she explained. “They sought the approval of the state government to set up a committee to harness input from both State and non-state actors to propose the next step to arable land. To facilitate this, the government has undertaken [several] activities to encourage food production and agricultural sustainability in the State.”