Ebonyi Govt. empowers 4,000 women, youths to participate in agric


Ebonyi Government has empowered no fewer than 4,000 women and youths with N250,000 grants each to participate in agriculture.

Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi made this known when he spoke with newsmen in Abakaliki on Friday.

According tom him, by next months, we want to see how we can empower wives of army, police and civil defence officers in the state.

He commended the agriculture development efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, and prayed for his quick recovery to pilot the affairs of the country.

The governor said that the agricultural programme of the Federal Government had impacted positively on the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.

“As a state, we wish him very quick recovery. He has done very well in terms of agricultural programme in the state and the nation at large.

“The programme in agriculture has brought down the foreign exchange. Before now, we import a lot of food items into the country and the dollar was rising to N560 to N600.

“When the programme of the Federal Government in agriculture commenced, it came down.

Umahi also lauded the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Finance for their support to farmers in the state through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

“I must commend the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for their agricultural programmes under President Buhari.

“I also want to commend the CBN Governor, the Minister of Finance, they have put their programmes together and the states are very well positioned to do better in agriculture.


“I can say that in the area of rice production, with the assistance of the Federal Government and its encouragement in a number of ways to better agriculture, we have been able to encourage farmers,’’ he said.

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