ABOUT 2,918 cassava and rice farmers in Oyo state are billed to be beneficiaries of N685 million under the FADAMA III Additional Financing Project, this year.
The disbursement will see N121 million given to 660 rice farmers to cultivate 920 hectares while 2,258 cassava farmers are to cultivate 4,153 hectares.
Coordinator, Oyo state FADAMA III Additional Financing Project, Mr Nath Olayinka disclosed these while interacting with journalists, at Oyo FADAMA office, Ibadan, on Wednesday.
According to Olayinka, the state government had also provided N35 million counterpart funding as part of the $200 million World Bank loan accessed by the federal government to boost rice and cassava production in the country.
He noted that the beneficiaries were derived from 52 groups qualified for rice production and 250 groups for cassava production.
Furthermore, he stated that the business plans of about 300 unemployed youths were being screened from which 200 would receive grants of between N700,000 and 1 million to engage in agriculture.
Olayinka avowed that the process of selecting the beneficiaries was automated, adding that FADAMA constantly did verification and monitoring of agric ventures of the beneficiaries.
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