Nelson Utip
Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom state , in delivering his mandate of food security and self sufficiency of his ARISE Agenda mantra has introduced the “Every Home a Garden” initiative which encourages residents to develop and maintain home gardens,at this year’s Christmas Carols Festival over the weekend, The Governor Eno announced a N500,000 reward for at least 50 participants with viable home gardens anywhere in the state. This is in tandem with the “Every Home a Garden” project of the nation’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
To benefit from the scheme, interested participants are to submit a two-minute video unveiling their home gardens with visible landmarks which will be uploaded on the platform ‘arisehomefarms.akwaibomstate.gov.ng.’
The governor stressed that the state’s abundant fertile land, favorable climate, and hardworking population places the state above depending on other regions for essential produce such as garri, fruits, tomatoes, pepper, waterleaf, pumpkin, and other spices.
According to the governor, this initiative is aimed at promoting local food production and reduction of dependence on external sources, and enhancing the state’s agricultural capacity and sustainability.
The governor had promised to increase the production of some identified agricultural products that include fruits, vegetables such as Tomatoes, Cucumber, Oranges, Mango, Pineapple, Spinach, Pepper, Okro and varieties of local spices severally, along with the provision of such crops as cassava, Rice, Maize, yam, plantain, and banana, including cash crops such as Cocoa, oil palm, Dates/ Raffia Palm, kola nut, and coconut. He also listed Fisheries and Livestock most of which can be cultivated around homes.
The governor said that the idea is to encourage those with adequate land around their homes to commence to transform from consumption level to income generating level.
This initiative have been praised by analysts who se it as timely and designed to encourage the young and elderly to go back to farm since with the “Every Home A Garden Initiative” does not require acres of land to be effective.
