With the introduction of the anchor borrower scheme by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not fewer than 20,000 rice farmers in Bauchi state have so far benefitted from the loan scheme thereby boosting their annual yield production.
The disclosure was made by the Bauchi State branch Chairman of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Dr Yahaya Adamu while speaking with Journalists at the venue of the CBN Fair held in Bauchi.
The RIFAN Chairman added that with the increase in the local production of rice across the country, the over 500,000 metric tonnes deficit experienced by the country which necessitated import from foreign countries is gradually closing.
Yahaya Adamu said that the rice farmers in Bauchi State can now boast of an increase in yield production because of the availability of the needed facilities during and off farming season stressing that the farmers do not need to go far away from their locations to get what is needed.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak last year when there was total lockdown, it was the quantity of the volume of rice produced locally that our people fell back to. All the COVID-19 palliative rice distributed to Nigerians were produced locally. Very soon, we will start exportation of rice because we now have enough to eat and surplus to give out,” he declared.
He said that “fertiliser is made available based on the size of the farm unlike in the past when a number of farmers will be struggling on how to share one bag. Also, we are now being exposed to organic fertiliser in order to gradually phase out the use of chemical fertiliser because we want to reduce the content of chemicals in our food. It is one of the conditions that must be met to enable us to export our products.”
The RIFAN Chairman commended the CBN for introducing the various interventions programs which he said have exposed the potential of Nigerian farmers in food production which has now promoted food security in the country.
He, however, called on members of RIFAN to ensure that they repaid the loans collected because according to him, that will make the CBN trust them and do more business with them which in turn will boost their productivity as more funds will be made available.
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CLAIM 1: A Twitter user claims UNICEF said any efforts to block children from accessing pornography might infringe their human rights.20,000 rice farmers in Bauchi benefit from CBN anchor borrower scheme to boost production, RIFAN discloses
20,000 rice farmers in Bauchi benefit from CBN anchor borrower scheme to boost production, RIFAN discloses
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