Food security: Niger distributes 100 motorcycles to extension workers

Olabode Adaramola

Niger state government through the agricultural and mechanization development authority yesterday distributed 100 motorcycles to extension and corporative staff across the state under the Central Bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme.

The gesture, which was aimed at boosting the capacity of extension workers to moblise farmers in the on-going effort by state and federal government to reposition agriculture as the main stay of the nation’s economy and boosting food security target over 300 extension workers.

Speaking at the flagging off of the first phase of the initiative Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said extension workers were critical to successful implementation of government’s agricultural policies.

He commended the Programme Monitoring Team (PMT) of the CBN-ABN for their relentless efforts in boosting food security , while also pledging the state government’s commitment to meeting its set target of 53,109 metric tons of rice and 18,348 metric tons of soyabeans this year.

The commissioner of agriculture and rural development, Malam Kabiru Abbas Musa said the state government plans to rehabilitate the 17 irrigation schemes to boost dry season farming, while also encouraging mechanized farming through provision of tractors and other equipment, as well as rehabilitation of integrated farm training centres at Kuta, Tegina, Bida and Nasko among other interventions in the sector.

Also speaking at the occasion, chairman of the Programme Monitoring Team, Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Kotangora said commodities such as rice, cotton and soyabeans were approved for the state under CBN-ABP initiative targeting 15, 000 farmers.

He said the approach under the programme is customer driven, which envisage farming as business and not the usual government programme.