The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to create a database for Nigerian farmers.
This initiative aims to enhance support for interventions for farmers and boost food security in line with President’s eight-point agenda.
The database, known as the farmer register, will utilise the National Identity Number (NIN) and biometric information to identify genuine farmers and their farmlands. This will help address issues and provide targeted support to farmers.
In the pilot phase, 2 million farmers will be registered within 3 months, with plans to upscale to 6 million in the second phase. The NIMC has a 3-month timeline to capture the biometric information of farmers and has formed a working group to operationalize the plans.
To reach rural farmers, the NIMC will partner with the private sector and utilise its offices in every local government across the country. The initiative also includes a financially inclusive card that will provide various functionalities for farmers.
Abubakar Kyari, the minister of Agriculture and Food Security, revealed this in his remarks at the signing ceremony which held in the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Kyari, “What we have just signed now with the National International Commission is the development of a farner register. We are going to use the platform that NIMC has, that is to say, the National Identity Number (NIN), and also the card, which will contain all the biometric information of the individual farmer.
“First and foremost, what is key about this is that we are going to identify the farmland or the farm space and also plug in the farmer. So that is where we are now going to actually register a genuine farmer, which will have only one biometric and one NIN number.
“So, we know precisely we are going to have a register that seeks to intervene and support a genuine farmer that is really an advocacy register and that will restore all kinds of issues that we have had,” he said.
The minister noted that the process is in line with Mr. President’s 8-point agenda on food security to intervene and support the real farmer, which will now produce more and give the nation a successful and bountiful harvest.
“In the pilot phase, we will register 2 million farmers, and that will take 3 months to perform. Subsequently, we are going to also upscale it to 6 million in the second instance.”
In her remarks, Abisoye Coker-Odusete, director general of the National Identity Management Commission, said the NIMC has a 3-month timeline for the capture.
“NIMC has its own processes for ensuring that we register the farmers because we have to capture their biometric information. We have offices in every local government across the country, and we also have state offices in every state.”
“So we will be utilising all of our resources to be able to ensure what goes to them. So our teams have formed a working group, and they are definitely going to go out to the group to operationalise their plans.”
Asked how the NIMC intends to reach the rural farmers, the DG assured the NIMC, in partnership with the private sector, has front-end partners who are working with NIMC to reach out to farmers in community areas.
“The mandate of NIMC is to ensure that we enroll every single Nigerian citizen and every legal resident in Nigeria” she added.
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