In its effort to boost Agricultural activities, Sokoto State Government has embarked on Aerial Spray of chemicals against Quelea birds in Irrigation areas of the state.
Speaking at a flag-off ceremony at the Sultan Abubakar III International Airport, the Commissioner for Agriculture Professor Aminu Abubakar Illela said the aim of the Aerial Spray was to protect Rice Irrigation farms against destruction by birds and other flying insects.
He said the move was to compliment Federal Government’s effort in ensuring the success of rice farming and other dry season farming in Sokoto state.
Professor Aminu also said the state ministry of Agriculture would continue to conduct Aerial spray against birds with a view to achieving the desired objective.
According to him, the Sokoto state government has expended millions of naira in Agricultural subsidies, in a bid to achieve food security in the state.
The areas to benefit from the Aerial spray exercise include Shagari, Sanyinna, and Wurno as well as other Rice irrigation farms located in some parts of the state.
The commissioner, however, called on irrigation farmers in the state, to pray and support the present administration in its effort to provide dividends of democracy to the citizenry.
He appealed to rural communities in the state not to panic with the continuous movement of Aircraft over their farmlands, while also urging them not to eat birds seen gasping in their farms as they were already contaminated by the sprayed chemicals.
Reporting by Nasir Malali; Editing by Omotola Oguneye and Tony Okerafor