NAN-AE-5
Inputs
By Tukur Muntari
Dutse, Aug. 16, 2017 (NAN) The Jigawa Government said it had disbursed N365 million worth of inputs as loans to farmers in 2016 as part of efforts to enhance food production in the state.
The state Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Alhaji Kabiru Ali, disclosed this when the Country Director, Sasakawa Global 2000 (SG 2000), Prof Sani Ahmed-Miko, paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday in Dutse.
Ali said the decision to support the farmers was borne out of the state government’s efforts to empower the farmers for massive food production.
He said even though loan recovery was the major challenge to many states, the Jigawa government had been able to recover more than 70 per cent of the loans.
He said the state government had selected four crops that gave higher yields and fetched more money for the farmers with a view to supporting them to boost production of the commodities.
The Commissioner listed the selected crops as rice, groundnut, sesame seeds and soya beans.
He said the state government would continue to support farmers with fertilisers and other inputs to encourage more people to partake in agriculture, particularly the unemployed persons.
He said the present administration under the leadership of Gov. Badaru Abubakar accorded agriculture top priority, hence its decision to budget N6.9 billion in 2017 for the sector.
He commended Sasakawa Global 2000 for its support to farmers in the state since it was established in state over 20 years ago.
He said the state government would continue to partner with the organisation for increase in agricultural productivity.
The Country Director, Prof. Sani Ahmed-Miko, said SG 2000 had changed its course of intervention from technology option plus to single technology package.
He said the organisation would continue to sustain the existing partnership between it and the Jigawa Government for the benefit of farmers.
“We all know that Jigawa is an agrarian state and we have gone far in terms of partnership,” Ahmed-Miko added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the SG 2000 team was in Jigawa to assess the performance of farmers on the improved production technology on which they are being trained by the agency. (NAN)
MTM/AMY
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Edited by Abdullahi Yusuf