The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) says it has established the Renewed Hope Mega Farm Estate in Ekiti, Kwara, Bauchi and Plateau states to improve service delivery to farmers across the country.

The executive secretary of NALDA, Cornelius Adebayo, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja while presenting an overview of the agency’s achievements in the past two years.

Mr Adebayo said NALDA was targeting the establishment of mega farm estates across the six geopolitical zones to address challenges affecting agricultural production and create modern farming communities.

He explained that the mega farms, designed as clusters of farmers, would cover about 5,000 hectares per location.

“This initiative provides solutions to many problems in agriculture because having farmers in one place helps us serve them better, especially regarding security.

“One of the challenges is that you cannot provide every citizen with a policeman, but if you have 1,000 farmers in one place, NALDA can approach the Inspector-General of Police for the deployment of security personnel,” he said.

Mr Adebayo said the Nigerian Police Trust Fund was partnering with NALDA to construct police stations within the farm estates, adding that this would facilitate the deployment of security personnel to protect farmers.

He added that NALDA would also collaborate with security agencies, including agro-rangers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), as well as engage vigilantes to support security operations in the estates.

He said the authority had deployed more than 20 rangers to its farm estate in Ekiti to ensure farmers’ safety and comfort.

According to him, each farmer in the cluster is allocated five hectares of farmland, with a target of enabling farmers to earn between N12 million and N13 million per farming season.

The NALDA boss said the authority was engaging the Enugu State government to establish a mega farm estate in the South-East, while discussions were ongoing with the Edo and Bayelsa governments for similar projects in the South-South.

“President Bola Tinubu’s vision of building modern farming communities through clusterisation informed the Renewed Hope Mega Farm Estate initiative to provide better services and economic opportunities.

“This current season, we are planting and cultivating in Bauchi, Kwara and Ekiti states.

“At the moment, we have sub-clusters of 1,000 hectares within the mega farm estates,” he said.

Mr Adebayo said NALDA was partnering with the private sector to provide irrigation facilities for farmers, adding that farmers would pay per hectare through aggregators to safeguard their investments.

“We are building the sector for private-sector participation. These solutions can sustain themselves because it is not government-based or government-focused alone.

“We are only providing the enabling environment, while the anchor of the cluster will be private-sector aggregators,” he said.

He said NALDA’s focus was on developing agricultural infrastructure, including land development and clearing, to support sustainable farming.

“President Tinubu believes strongly in infrastructure, and NALDA is positioning itself to provide the needed infrastructure to develop the agricultural sector in terms of land development, clearing and other areas.

“Within each of the farm estates, we have provided kitchens and other facilities to ensure the comfort of farmers,” he said.

 (NAN)