Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, has reiterated his administration’s commitment to harnessing the available natural resources in the state to create wealth for sustainability.

He said: “It behooves on the leadership of the state to harmonize the God-given resource to fight poverty and hunger.

“I am often appalled by the vast lands surrounding the state and not cultivated yet we depend on importing food items from neighbouring states whereas 80% of what we consumed should be produced locally”.

He hinted that in keeping with the focus of hi administration to ensure food sufficiency, he had “evolved an environment induced diagnosis by partnering with other investors to achieve set goals and make Agriculture a big business for farmers in the state”.

He expressed gratitude to the San Carlos Group for their decision to invest in the agricultural sector of the state’s economy.

The Chairman Technical Committee on Agriculture, Professor Edet Udoh, had earlier lauded the enterprise vision of Governor Emmanuel who has created an enabling environment to attract investors to the state.

“A Memoranda of Understanding has been signed with the San Carlos Group on areas of comparative advantage and a cattle ranch is to be established at Adadia, Uruan Local Government Area beginning with 2,000 herds of cattle in the first phase.

“They will take off with the harvest of cocoa yields using the international standard to control quality for export as well as introduce a new breed of cocoa and provide a nursery to nurture the new variety that would be given to farmers,” he said.

The investor, Mr Carlos Cabal said that modern agriculture is driven by technology and after an accurate feasibility study, his group resolved to invest in the livestock by bringing high breed cattle.

He said that they would carry out an insemination programme to provide new breeds for consumption and export.

Mr Cabal also spoke of the white almond cocoa variety that would be introduced to cocoa farmers in Ini Local Government Area of the state while a fermentation plant would be established in the area to save the grower the stress of wastage due to poor processing and ensure good quality of the cocoa seeds for export.

He expressed appreciation to Governor Udom Emmanuel for welcoming them to the state and pledged to abide by the MoU entered into with the state government.

Source: Channels TV