…as CBN flags off 2021 wet season in Kwara

By Mike Adeyemi

The Kwara Chapters of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria(RIFAN), has said rice production capacity in the state has risen by 300,000 metric tones during the last dry season.

Speaking on this development, the state coordinator of RIFAN, Ahmed Saba stated this on Thursday during the official flag- off of 2021 wet season farming and sales of recovered paddy to Millers held at Shonga in Edu local government area of Kwara State.

According to him, ‘the intervention of RIFAN is a blessing to teaming population of Kwara State as it has brought about poverty alleviation across the state.’

“Right from inception of this scheme, what we did this year is a great surprise. There is what we called alleviation of poverty. For those that participated in this scheme benefited a lot.

” For the dry season we did, we produced about 300,000 metric tones of Rice in Kwara State. With what happen now and with the market visibility that people said, it has encouraged large numbers of people to come into Rice farming,’ he said.

Saba added that the federal government concept on Rice planting is apt having noted that people are chasing fewer quantity of rice in the market hence the hike in the price of the commodity.

“For federal government to buy a concept that we should do the side seek and recovery to the society is purposely because large numbers of people are chasing fewer quantity of rice in the market.

“That has gives farmers to participate more in rice farming in Kwara and it afford them to get more revenue. And when we gets more money in every economy, that person is liable to build up,” the RIFAN boss stressed.

Also speaking at the event, Mr. Godwin I. Emefiele, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria who represented by Dr. Olabintan Adewale said Kwara farmers have done well as he charged them to do more.

“Anchor borrower has several objective parts of which is to improve the welfare of the farmers which we have been able to do by encouraging more farmers to move from subsistence farming to what we called Agribusiness.

” Kwara farmers have done exceedingly well, but they can do better. On the scale of terms, I will score them 9/10. The CBN under the anchor borrower scheme has been able to create 10 million jobs across the country,” Emefiele affirmed.

While acknowledging the importance of loan repayment to the sustainability of the programme, he stressed that the CBN was constantly engaging the farmers to enhance their trust in the system, provide a competitive price arrangement and facilitate effective market linkages for their outputs.

He further added that the partnership between the CBN and the Kwara State Government and RIFAN aimed at strategically complementing the Economic Sustainability Plan of the present administration.

  Kwara State, Rice