Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe on Wednesday said his administration would enhance mechanised farming, to boost economic empowerment and combat insecurity.
He disclosed this in Damaturu while flagging off the distribution of 100 tractors procured by the North East Commodity Associations (NECAs) to farmers.
Buni challenged the people, including civil servants, to engage in agriculture individually and through associations to benefit from the incentives provided by government and development partners.
“Mechanised farming makes agriculture more productive and profitable; government will support the scheme to boost it and improve the economy of the state.
“Government will continue to partner with NECAs and other organisations to improve agriculture and economy of the state, as reflected in my inauguration speech.”
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Alhaji Sadiq Daware, National Chairman, NECAs, said that the programme, which provide mechanised farming equipment for the economic recovery of inhabitants of the North East ravaged by insurgency, was supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Daware, who was represented on the occasion by Alhaji Ahmed Dukku, National Secretary of the Association, said that youths and women constituted the 15,000 targeted beneficiaries for the 2019 cropping season.
According to him, every unit of the 100 tractors provides employment opportunities for six persons; “this means the scheme is generating 600 employment opportunities aside the farmers, who are the major beneficiaries.”
He said that 2,000 hectares of land would be cultivated under the scheme in the state.
“Some farmers from Borno have been moved to Yobe to benefit from the programme,” Daware said.
Alhaji Nuhu Baba, NECAs Chairman in Yobe, said that 11,000 rice farmers had benefited from the scheme in the state, adding that more opportunities still existed for prospective beneficiaries. (NAN)
