President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday announced that his administration will make available N14 billion to support the 2014 dry season farming, assuring farmers that the Dry Farming Support Programme will be made a national policy to enhance the growth of farmers and ensure food security in the country.

In a live broadcast of the official launch of the programme on Channels Television, the President said, “Today I am announcing that Dry Season Food Production Support will become a national policy.” He added that “the parliament assured us that they are taking a step higher than just a mere policy; they are enacting a law to back this up.”

The President also said that his administration was working towards ensuring that “our nation must be green, our barns shall be filled, our farmers shall prosper and our agro-business shall expand.” He promised, “we will continue to grow agriculture for the benefit of our people and our nation”.

He however noted that subsequently the programme will have to come up in October “so that the people that will get into it will get all that they need before the commencement of the dry season”.

He said his administration has made available the sum of N14 billion to support the 2014 dry season farming, N5 billion more than the amount made available in 2013, promising that “as more skills and more farmers key into it, we are going to increase the amount of money”.

He also noted that the country has witnessed a revolution in the housing and power sectors.

“I believe with the revolution in the agric sector, with our revolution in the power sector and of course within this week, we also launched the Housing Finance Company that will provide money for the primary mortgage institutions that will lend to Nigerians” he said.

The President further noted that the housing sector has started witnessing a major revolution, and the successes recorded in the three sectors would “create a good number of jobs, create wealth for our people and really re-position this country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The President thanked the Minister and states’ commissioners of Agriculture for working together to ensure that the programme succeeds.

He also promised that his administration would continue to expand the growth enhancement scheme to raise many more millions of farmers.