In a bid to boost Agriculture in Nigeria, the Niger State Government is to partner with the Bank of Agriculture for the transformation of the agricultural sector of the state.
While the Government will plough the sum of N1bn to agricultural mechanisation in the state, the Bank of Agriculture will give equal amount for the same project which will engage 10,000 farmers and create 50,000 additional jobs.
Governor Babangida Aliyu stated this on Tuesday while receiving the Managing Director, BoA, Dr. Kudu Santuraki and his management team who visited him in Minna.
Under the agreement, 5500 hectares of land are to be brought under cultivation in the scheme designed to engage 250,000 farmers over the next two years.
He said the government’s transformation of the agriculture was aimed at making farming attractive to farmers especially youths, adding that it would also reduce unemployment of young school graduates.
Aliyu also said that the state rice consortium project alone would make it possible for more than 10,000 additional rice farmers to be engaged to more than triple the hectarage of land put under cultivation in the rice producing areas of the state.
The governor expressed appreciation to the Bank of Industries for the support given to the state which had improved farming in the state.
The Managing Director of the Bank, Dr. Kudu Santuraki, in his remarks said the bank had released over N1.3bn to 13,000 farmers in the state for the cultivation of various crops during the ongoing cropping season.
He said farmers in the country should take advantage of federal governments’ recent ban on importation of rice through the land borders to bridging the gap that will be created by the ban.