The Federal Government has empowered about 6,670 Rice farmers in Plateau State with seedlings, fertilisers, herbicides and other agricultural inputs for maximum production of rice in the country.
Governor Simon Lalong made the disclosure on Monday, while inspecting the distribution of the farm inputs and other farming implements at the Plateau Agricultural Development Programme (PADP)
Lalong, who was represented by Commissioner of Information and Communication, Yakubu Dati, said the empowerment scheme was made possible due to his strategic engagement with the federal government.
“About 6, 670 rice farmers in Plateau State have received seedlings, fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, water pumping machines and other rice farming inputs from the ongoing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers Programme of the Federal Government.
“The distribution is on-going, simultaneously, at the PADP stores in Jos, Mangu and Shendam to the benefitting farmers who are mostly women and youths.”
He said the programme is aimed at empowering the farmers to boost food production, create employment and reduce youth restiveness. Lalong said his administration has made Plateau the hub of agriculture in the North, coupled with the ongoing potatoes value chain projects, which has created employment opportunity for citizens of the state.
Secretary of the Plateau State chapter of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Dauda Aku, said the farmers have been receiving their items for the past three weeks at the secretariats of PADP in Jos, Shendam and Mangu local government areas, respectively.
He said the beneficiaries were drawn from the 17 local government areas of the state devoid of sentiments and acrimony.
He said, “6,670 people were approved in three geo-political zones of the state and about 36 trucks, each loaded with 600 bags of fertilisers were allocated to the rice farmers in the state.”
