ABP: 120,000 rice farmers benefit in Kano
No fewer than 120,000 rice farmers in Kano State will benefit from the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP) for this year’s dry season farming.
The state Chairman of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Kano on Tuesday.
Alhaji Aliyu said already the list of the registered farmers had been forwarded to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for verification and processing of the loan facility.
He disclosed that each farmer would receive a loan package of not less than N220,000 comprising inputs and a certain amount of money for payment of labour.
“About 150,000 rice farmers registered for the programme, but the number had to be reduced to 120,000 due to issues of BVN.
“The list of the successful farmers has been forwarded to the CBN for immediate processing as the dry season farming activities for the commodity will soon commence,” he said.
He advised farmers who were not able to scale through due to the issue of the BVN to exercise patience, assuring that they would be given priority during the wet season programme.
Aliyu advised those selected to make the best use of the loan facility to boost rice production in the state and the country at large.
“This is an opportunity for our members to improve their socioeconomic status since the Federal Government is committed to supporting the sector for massive food production in the country.”
He urged farmers across the country to embrace rice production so as to end the importation of the commodity.
NAN recalls that no fewer than 5,000 hectares of rice farms were destroyed by flood in 10 local government areas of the state in 2018, with farmers losing over N5bn worth of rice.