KANO State governor,Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, has said that following the state government’s renewed interest in agriculture, as part of efforts to diversify local economy, the rice produced by farmers in the state rose from 692, 481 tonnes in 2015 to 1, 551, 720 tonnes 2016, reflecting an increase of about 95.2 per cent.
Dr Ganduje, who said this on Sunday, also said “Wheat production in the state increased from 9, 495, 024 tonnes in 2015 to 17, 717, 000 tonnes in 2016, showing a swell of 84 per cent”.
He disclosed this during an interactive session on loan recovery with farmers, on the Central Bank of Nigeria/Bank of Agriculture/Kano State Rice Aborrowers programme, at Kano Seed Processing Centre, Kadawa, Garun Malam Local Government Area,
Governor Ganduje, who revealed that the bumper harvest recorded last year in the state showed a significant increase in the production of other commodities like maize, millet, groundnut and cow peas, said with the government’s commitment, the output would be multiplied this year.
On impediments to the farmers’ productivity, the governor said: “I have noticed that there is a major issue in Anchor-Borrower Programme. Farmers are complaining that they are not getting the assistance at the time they need it and this constituted a major problem.”
He, however, promised that the issue as well as that of availability of inputs would be addressed between the government and the banks involved to ensure that farmers get adequate assistance.
Governor Ganduje urged beneficiaries of the CBN/BOA/Kano State Rice Anchor – Borrowers Programme, to ensure that they repay the loan given them since it is a revolving facility that would pave way for other farmers to benefit,
He said the Federal Government is fully ready to assist farmers by providing necessary agricultural inputs.
Earlier, the representative of CBN, AbdulKadir Ahmad , had said the guarantee given by the state government was behind the success of the programme, adding that N960 million was allocated to Kano farmers and each got N367, 000 worth of loan .
The Chairman, Kano Anchor Borrower Recovery Team, Prof. Mahmud Ibrahim Daneji clarified that about 5,540 farmers benefited from the program and some have started paying back with farm produce, as agreed between the stakeholders, urging others to expedite repayment to avoid legal action against them.
Some of the farmers that spoke at the session, including Yusuf Babba Danagundi expressed satisfaction with the programme but complained that the support given to them were released belatedly and fertilizer was not readily available, among other things.
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