Jigawa govt. adopts proactive measures to boost rice, wheat production
The Jigawa Government has adopted
proactive farmer support programmes to boost the production of paddy
rice and wheat in the state.
Gov. Badaru Abubakar disclosed this on
Friday during an inspection visit to wheat plantations in Auyo Local
Government Area of the state.
He said that the measures were designed
to enhance the farmers’ access to fertilisers, seeds and chemicals,
while encouraging farm mechanisation and crop processing.
He said that the measures would also
boost project finance and enhance farmers’ skills, adding that they
were particularly directed at adding value to harvested rice and
wheat, providing markets for the crops and achieving self-sufficiency
in rice and wheat production.
Abubakar said that the state government
had distributed fertilisers and seeds to farmers for dry season
farming.
The governor said that farmers in the
state were expected to produce about 125, 000 tonnes of wheat and one
million tonnes of rice during the rainy and dry seasons respectively.
“The state government, in
collaboration with the Federal Government, implemented the Anchor
Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to support farmers as well as encourage
rice and wheat cultivation,’’ he said.
Abubakar said that his administration
had worked out some modalities to expand the scope of the scheme to
promote agricultural production.
He said that the state government, in
partnership with the World Bank, would construct access roads to
farmlands to ease the transportation of farm produce to the markets,
while improving the socio-economic well-being of the people.
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in
partnership with the federal and state governments, initiated the ABP
to enhance agricultural financing.
The programme is a critical component
of the Federal Government’s agricultural policy which was aimed at
enhancing farmers’ access to inputs and financing. It is also
designed to encourage agricultural mechanisation, crop processing and
agricultural enterprises.
Statistics from Jigawa’s Ministry of
Agriculture showed that some 36, 250 farmer clusters were registered
and incorporated into the ABP.
The state government said that it had
so far spent N439 million on the implementation of the programme.
It also said that it had distributed
fertilisers, seeds and chemicals on credit to farmers during the 2016
cropping season.
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