1,500 Katsina farmers empowered through CBN anchor borrowers programme

macfranc007 March 09, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Nurudeen Lawal

- Farmers in Daura, Katsina state, were empowered with farming implements, fertilisers, water pumping machine, etc

- The farmers got the implements through Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) anchor borrowers scheme

- They are to repay the loan back with bags of paddy rice, not cash, within one year

Farmers in Daura, Katsina State, have received various farming implements under the second phase of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) anchor borrowers scheme.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nura Baure, the chairman of the Daura chapter of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), disclosed this during the distribution of farming implements to registered farmers on Thursday, March 8.

NAIJ.com gathered that Baure said about 1,500 rice farmers benefited from the scheme.

According to him, each farmer received two bags of fertilisers, two bottles of herbicides and a water pumping machine.

He said the farmers were also given a bag of improved seedlings, two litres of liquid fertiliser and a bag of organic fertiliser each.

The monetary value of the implements, he said, was put at N275,000 per beneficiary which he noted would be repaid within a year.

The RIFAN chairman explained that the scheme was aimed at promoting mass production of rice, through a revolving loan procedure, so as to empower millions of farmers in line with the objectives of the anchor borrowers programme.

“The loan repayment must be in bags of paddy rice, not cash,” Baure said.

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Baure, however, warned the farmers against diverting the implements or defaulting in repayment, adding that a mobile court had been established to try defaulters.

NAIJ.com previously reported that the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, credited the federal government's Anchor Borrowers' Programme with the current revolution in rice production across the country.

The minister stated this in Jega, Kebbi state, on Sunday, March 4, while leading a delegation of over 30 journalists on an inspection of rice farms across the state.

He said the benefits that have accrued to rice farmers in the provision of improved seedling, farm input and extension services have led to the increase of yield per hectare from 2.5 to between 10 and 11 metric tonnes.

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