125 poor Niger farmers get free farm inputs

One hundred and twenty five poor farmers from all the 25 local government areas of Niger State have benefitted from the FADAMA COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus (N-CARES) programme.

The farmers are those whose means of livelihood were affected by the outbreak of the virus and have been finding it difficult to cater for their families.

Five farmers adjudged to be poor and in dire need of help were selected from each of the LGAs of the state to benefit from the programme.

Speaking during the flag off of the 2021 agriculture inputs distribution to the beneficiaries in Minna, the state FADAMA N-CARES Coordinator, Dr Hassan Garba Kontagora, said each beneficiary would be supported with four 50kg bags of NPK fertiliser, two 50kg bags of urea fertiliser, four litres of herbicide, a litre of pesticide and 25 to 50kg bags of rice, maize and sorghum seeds; depending on the farmer’s enterprise.

Dr Kontagora said, “In short, we are distributing 37.5 metric tonnes of NPK and urea, 3.8 metric tonnes of rice, maize and sorghum seeds, and 500 and 125 litres of herbicide and insecticide respectively.”

He explained that the N-CARES project was aimed at protecting the livelihoods and food security of poor and vulnerable families in order to facilitate recovery of local economic activity in the state.

He, therefore, appealed to the beneficiaries to effectively utilise the inputs, adding that they would be adequately monitored at the community and state levels.

In his remarks, Niger State Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Haliru Jikantoro, warned the beneficiaries against selling the inputs.

The commissioner who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Idris Usman Gbogan, said it would be a mistake for the beneficiaries to sell the inputs, adding that the goal was to increase food production.