Sokoto State Government has purchased 5000 water pumps worth N235million for sale to rice farmers at subsidised prices.

This was disclosed in Sokoto on Thursday by the Chairman of the State Committee on Immediate Framework on Agriculture, Alhaji Chiso Abdullahi.

He spoke at a town hall meeting on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Anchor Borrowers Programme for the 2017 dry season rice farming in the state.

Chiso, who is also the Chairman of the Project Monitoring Team on the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme, added that the state government bought each pump at N47,000.00, but would be sold to the farmers at N10,000 each.

Abdullahi, a former Deputy Governor in the state, added that no fewer than 30,000 rice farmers were targeted in the state during the season.

The chairman further stated that the state government had since donated 5000 bags of 100kilogrammes of rice seeds to the farmers.

Abdullahi added: “ The state government and the CBN deserve commendation for their commitment to the programme.

“Their gesture under the programme will really boost food security, curb poverty, unemployment and restiveness.”

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Bello Nagwari, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Garba Sarkin-Kudu, said that the state government was fully aware of the problems hindering agricultural development in the state.

“It is making adequate arrangements to tackle them head-on and thus develop the agricultural sector,” Nagwari said.

The CBN Branch Controller in the state, Mr Mohammed Idris, said the meeting was aimed at assessing the progress and problems of the programme, with a view to charting the way forward.

Idris added that the programme will ensure that only genuine farmers directly benefit from the gesture.

The Project Manager of the State Agricultural Development Project, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, said it had deployed about 117 extension farmers across the state.

Malami said that the gesture was aimed at offering the best technical advice to the farmers, to ensure maximum yields.

Source: NAN