Bauchi rice farmers get FG’s assorted fertiliser, others

THE Federal Government on Monday said it had distributed 44,163 bags of assorted fertiliser to 14,721 registered rice farmers in Bauchi State for the 2015 dry season farming.

Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf, a Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi that the gesture was to ensure food security in the country.

Yusuf said that each farmer received three 25kg bags of fertiliser, improved rice seeds and 2kg of agrolyser or 1litre of AG Zyme at subsidised rates.

“In addition to that, irrigation water pumps and rice reapers at subsidised rates were also distributed to the farmers.

“Redemption was exclusively through the e-wallet system under the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme,’’ he said.

The director added that the decision to continue the dry season farming programme this year was informed by the success recorded in 2013 and 2014 in selected states, including Bauchi.

According to Yusuf, a total of 4,374 farmers across the state benefited from the programme in 2013, while 11,000 registered farmers benefited last year.

“With more than 14, 000 farmers this year, we intend to triple last year’s production.

“One of the key mandates of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda is to achieve self-sufficiency and a complete stop to rice importation this year.

“It is hoped that this year, Nigeria will be able to totally depend on locally produced rice as well as develop the capacity to export,’’ he said.