June 26, 2018

Katsina registers farmers for wet season rice production programme

He said the farmers were registered as bona-fide members of the association, adding that their data was being captured for enrolment to receive agricultural inputs for the wet season rice production programme.

“Each farmer is provided with an enrolment form in which he will provide details about himself and submit it to the district head.

“The beneficiary will also submit a referee who will serve as guarantor to him and the competent court of law for endorsement.

“The cumbersome conditions were introduced to make the farmers be aware that the inputs to be provided were not free.

“In case of default, an individual farmer or his guarantor has to account for what he has collected, the era of abusing such privileges is over,’’ he said.

Wakili said distribution of the inputs would be commensurate with the number of cultivable land hecters captured against the name of an individual farmer.

The state chairman also said that the association would monitor full implementation of the programme and sanction any act of deviation.

He commended the Federal Government for the introduction of the anchor borrower agricultural programme.

According to him, the anchor borrower programme has created millions of jobs and eradicated indolence and redundancy, especially among youths.

He said the programme, a multi-purpose life saving scheme focusing on production of all categories of cash and cereal crops nationwide, was aimed at boosting food security and economic sustainability.

NAN reports that the Daura and Sandamu Local Government Areas in Katsina state have so far captured the data of 5,654 farmers for the wet season rice production programme.