Commission donates tractors, others to boost farming in Bauchi

THE North East D e v e l o p m e n t Commission ( NEDC) has donated tractors and other farm implements to the Bauchi State government to boost food production.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Mohammed Alkali, while speaking at the graduation ceremony of the 204 trainees in Information and Communication Technologies ( ICT) at the Government House. He said the programme was to alleviate poverty and reduce youth joblessness.

Alkali said the trainees had been given starter packs and N20,000 each. According to him, the commission had spent N4,080,000 on the 204 trainees.

He appealed to the state government to assist the beneficiaries with space and resources to keep them going.

He added that the commission had donated some agricultural equipment, including seedlings, fertilizer and agro- chemicals.

“We have given these to enhance production capacity of smallholder farmers and improve their livelihood in the state. We have handed over some critical and other farm implements that include 10 tractors, 28 deep plough tractors, 10 planters, 10 boom sprayers, 18 trailer bodies and quantities of three- wheel tractors.”

The state governor, Bala Mohammed, in his remarks, said that “the commission has been meticulous in its areas of interventions – in ICT and agricultural development.”

According to him, the commission had been a major stakeholder in infrastructure development of the state and other states in the region.