Plateau Government Registers 10,000 Farmers On CBN APB Initiative For Crop Production.
Yakubu Busari
About 10,000 farmers have been registered by the CBN ICT consultant to benefit from the federal government policy improve agriculture sector.
He explained that his administration is partnering to embraced the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers Programme( APB)
The plateau state government has expressed commitment to boost agricultural and crop production in the state.
The governor Simon Bako Lalong disclosed this at National Veterinary Research Institute NVRI auditorium hall Vom JOS south.
In an event organized by Federal College Of Animal Health And Production Lalong said to addressed the credit needs of small holders farmers in the state.
Represented by the commissioner of Agriculture Hon . Linda Barau. Lalong stressed that the process is a general wide farmers registration across the state.
He added on the fertilizers distribution that the state procure 23,387 metric tons of assorted fertilizers.
Lalong said the fertilizers have been sold at a subsidized rate of 4,000.00 per bag.
Lalong expressed satisfaction with the Hon. Commissioner of agriculture Linda Barau on the state FMARD.
He stated the commissioner led a team constituted by the state to liaise with the headquarters in Abuja to list Plateau among the beneficiary states.
Lalong assured citizens that the present government is focus to promote sustainable livelihood and maximize revenue generation through the “green Alternative” policy.
The aim of the policy is to re-engineer major source of Nigeria’s foreign exchange for onward development in plateau state.
Lalong called on the good people of plateau state to be patience as he inherited so many challenges since assumption of office.
Adding that he has been reviewing the challenges to protect the future of the state. He said the agricultural sector in the state, observation probe that it is characterized by subsistence farming and bad agronomic practices leading to low productivity.
Others are poorly fertile soil due to low fertiliser usage per hectares also low technology application and poor road network with inadequate access to high quality farm inputs.
The Provost federal college of animal health and production technology,VOM professor Garba Hamidu sharubutu shade more light on the maiden conference tropical journal of agricultural research with the theme title “sustainable Research For Development Key To Economic Diversification”.
The provost reiterated that the theme was deliberated upon in line with the state and federal government desire to make agriculture a key driver of the economy of Nigeria. He commended plateau state agricultural research development instItute as the best among all training institutions in Nigeria.
Sharubutu call on the state government to explore the potentials of the (NVRI) VOM and (FCAHPT) colleges to exploit the numerous intervention of the federal government to complement effort.
He expressed satisfaction with the state steering committee on the CBN (APBS) on the ranching policy to mention few.
He said the college has witnessed a number of developmental strides in furtherance of a drive towards enhance productivity.
A key note address presented by Acting executive Director Dr. D National Veterinary Research Institute VOM David Shamaki lectured on the topic of the conference titled “sustainable research for development a key to economic diversification.
FarShamaki explained that economic diversification is a process which a growing range of economic output is produced.
He noted that standards of living sometimes fluctuate wildly in correlation with the price of oil.
Economic diversification is aimed at increasing economic resilience. It also to reduce reliance on the vulnerable economic sector for certain categories of countries like Nigeria.
He emphasis that in its usage most of the economies are generally characterised by lack of the proper knowledge of it. He said the economies traditionally relied heavily on the production of primary commodities that are predominately vulnerable to climate variability and change as in the case of Nigeria.
