Tambuwal parleys CBN, farmers over anchor borrower scheme


 Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto recently held a special meeting with officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), banks, farmers’ associations and other stakeholders toward boosting rice production in the state.
Tambuwal said that the state government had made concrete arrangements to boost rice production by providing 50,000 bags of high yield rice seeds to be distributed to farmers across the state free of charge.
He said that the state government is commitment to ensure the smooth take off of the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme in Sokoto.
He explained that already the state government has procured 5,000 pumping machines at the cost of N30, 000 each to be sold to anchor farmers at the cost of N10, 000 each.
Tambuwal noted the major problem of the farmers was low level of awareness and urged the participating entities to increase awareness among farmers on the benefits of the programme.
The governor urged the officials of the anchor scheme to do their best to ensure the success of the programme in the state.
Tambuwal appealed to the farmers to embrace new techniques of farming and cooperate with Anchor officials so as to achieve the desired objectives.
“As banks, you have to make the processes of registration easy to comprehend, especially for rural farmers.
“Banking guidelines are a bit complicated for the people, so you should put in machinery that will explain everything in details for them to understand,” he added.
In his remarks, Chairman of the State Committee for the Revitalisation of Agriculture, Alhaji Abdullahi Dattijo, said so far, 6,265 farmers have opened accounts with various banks to signify their interest in the anchor borrowers’ scheme.
He said his committee has received applications from 19 input suppliers, who have expressed interest to supply fertiliser, seeds, pumping machines and chemicals.
Commenting on the programme, representatives of CBN, banks and farmers associations reiterated their commitment towards attaining the desired objectives of the scheme. 

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