Anchor Borrowers programme kicks off in Borno with 2,000 farmers


No fewer than 2,000 registered rice farmers in Borno are to benefit from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Agricultural Programme in the state.
Consultant in charge of the programme in the state, Mr Abbah Kale, who made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri, on Thursday, said rice farming had already commenced in liberated communities.
Kale said registration and bio-metric data capturing of beneficiaries was on-going, just as they had scaled up the exercise to cover other liberated local government areas.
He said that the programme was introduced by the Federal Government as part of renewed effort to boost rice and wheat production in the country.
According to him, the programme is aimed at supporting farmers with agricultural inputs to enhance productivity, create job opportunities and diversify the country’s economy.
The Consultant said under the programme, each farmer would be provided with 50kg of seeds, 50kg of urea fertiliser, water pump, insecticide and some litres of fuel, with the cost deducted from N256.856.00 package earmarked for each farmer.
He explained that after paying for the inputs, the balance of the money would be given to each farmer to enable him or her pay for labour and other miscellaneous activities.
“The target for each of the farmers is 60 bags of rice;the farmer is expected to cultivate one hectare and repay the loan after 90 days of harvest.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Anchor Borrowers Programme was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in Kebbi State in 2015, with a view to boosting rice and wheat production in the country.

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