The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Offiong Offor, says the state government is repositioning agriculture from subsistence farming into a major driver of food security, employment and wealth creation.
Offor said Gov. Umo Eno’s administration had introduced targeted interventions and leveraged donor-supported programmes to boost agricultural production and improve the livelihoods of farmers across the state.
She stated this on Thursday in Uyo while speaking with journalists on the administration’s performance in the agricultural sector.
The commissioner said agriculture remained central to Akwa Ibom’s economy, making sustained government investment necessary to increase production, improve market access and create opportunities for rural communities.
Akwa Ibom has a predominantly agrarian population, with farmers producing food crops such as cassava and vegetables, as well as tree crops including oil palm and cocoa.
However, poor rural roads, limited access to farm machinery and inputs, and post-harvest losses continue to constrain farmers’ productivity and access to markets.
Offor said the government’s interventions were therefore designed to address some of these challenges while encouraging more residents to return to farming.
She said the governor’s Back to Farm and Home Farm initiatives were aimed at encouraging households to grow food crops for domestic consumption while generating additional income.
“That’s how we used to live. He is trying to say, let’s go back to that way. Don’t buy everything from the market. Have a small garden where you can grow small things that you need for cooking and you can even give out,” she said.
According to her, the state government had also established an Equipment Leasing Company with tractors and other farm machinery, which farmers could access at a 50 per cent subsidy.
“Farmers get 50 per cent off the regular price to work on their farms. Machines will help you work faster and get more than if you use manual labour,” she said.
Offor added that the government was supporting the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank-assisted programme, through counterpart funding to improve rural feeder roads.
She said the project had earmarked 486 roads across the state’s 31 local government areas to improve farmers’ access to markets, reduce post-harvest losses and enhance livelihoods.
“The project has earmarked 486 roads across the 31 local government areas. It gives farmers easy market access, reduces post-harvest losses and improves livelihoods,” she said.
She noted that an 11-kilometre market junction road cutting across Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area had already been commissioned under the programme.
The commissioner further disclosed that through the Food Systems Resilience Programme and AK-CARES, farmers had received improved fingerlings, poultry, goats and sheep, as well as cassava cuttings, fertilisers and herbicides.
She said more than 16,000 beneficiaries had received input support under AK-CARES, while more than 150 rural roads had been graded and 81 wet markets rehabilitated with toilet facilities and slaughter slabs to improve hygiene in meat markets.
On tree crops, Offor said the state had launched the Tree Crop Revolution Programme, focusing on oil palm and cocoa production.
She said more than 620,000 oil palm seedlings would be distributed to 1,700 farmers across the 31 local government areas, adding that 14 LGAs had so far received 5,000 seedlings each.
For cocoa, she disclosed that more than 250,000 seedlings were distributed to over 3,000 farmers in 2025, while more than 100,000 seedlings had been distributed to over 850 farmers in 2026.
The commissioner said the state was also tracing the origin of cocoa beans produced in Akwa Ibom to ensure that the quality of its produce was properly recognised rather than attributed to other states.
She added that the governor was establishing a 50-hectare model farm as a flagship integrated agricultural project combining crop and livestock production, with plans to replicate the model across the state’s senatorial districts.
Offor said the interventions were part of the administration’s broader effort to make agriculture more productive and attractive while using the sector to create sustainable economic opportunities for residents.