Agriculture is, indeed, the main economic activities of the people of Kogi State. About 80% of the population are engaged in it. There is a wide stretch of arable land for farming, good grazing ground for livestock and large bodies of water for fishing and cash crops commonly grown in commercial quantities.

These include – yam, cassava, rice, maize guinea corn, cocoa, coffee, cashew, palm trees etc. The potential for fish farming and production is equally very high with over 2,000 fishing ponds and 200 major fishing villages sustained by the Rivers Niger and Benue and streams all over the state. The agricultural potentials are very good sources of raw materials for agro-allied industries such as flour mills fruit juice processing, starch, animal feeds, vegetable oil and soup producing among others.

Fleet of Tractors for Distribution to Farmers
Kogi State Government Cassava Initiative

Majority of the people of Kogi State  live in the rural areas where they practice subsistence farming.  The  administration  of Alhaji Ibrahim  Idris has taken  steps to turn around this sector for the overall benefit of the people of the state by giving the needed   attention   and   allocation   of sufficient funds.


Fertilizer, which is a basic need of the farmers, was not available when Alhaji Ibrahim Idris took over the reign of this administration. Indeed, several tones of fertilizer amounting to about N147million collected from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture were not paid for by the immediate past administration. The first thing the Governor did in this sector was to pay a visit to the Hon. Minister of Agriculture to solicit his understanding and support as it relates to the debt owed the Federal Government by the State on account of fertilizer. The visit was productive as an agreement was reached to pay off the N147million in three installments, and an open ended assurance of supply of fertilizer to the State was given.
 
The Government of Kogi State has so far procured over 800 trucks of assorted brands of fertilizer which was sold to farmers at a subsidized rate of N1,300.00 per bag.
The Government has so far procured 227 tractors of a capacity of 60 H.P which were distributed to farmers. The State Ministry of Agriculture also raised Cocoa, Palm oil, Mango and Cashew seedlings for distribution to farmers. Similarly, Government purchased 92 Forestry Pass Hammers worth N3.9million to check illegal felling of economic trees and has also established 28 hectares of teak plantation at Olle, Acharaatne and Osara Forest Reserves. Additional 10 hectares of teak plantation was established at Olle through Kogi State Forestry Trust Fund.
 
In the fishing sub-sector, the sum of N12.124million has so far been released to fishermen as loans to enhance their activities under the ECOWAS fund accelerated fish production project with 67% recovery success rate.
 
In a bid to encourage farmers in the State, the State Government sourced for beniseed and guinea corn seedlings for onward distribution to farmers. This exercise has paid off as the farmers have been able to produce beniseed and guinea corn for sale to Government. Government has bought 500million of 100Kg bags of beniseed and 300million of 100Kg bags from the farmers.
 
The Government has also discovered the suitability of the soil in the Central and Eastern Senatorial Districts for mass production of beniseed and guinea corn.
In order to facilitate the exploration of the cleaned beniseed, government has ordered for 3No Beniseed cleaning machines at a cost of $86,580.00
 
In the Livestock sub-sector, government made concerted effort in controlling the spread of the Avian influenza (Bird flu) to Kogi State from some neigbourging States of the Federation. To this end a sum of N1.9million was released to curtail the epidemic. The sensitive campaign and the public education against the disease were successfully carried out.