FG to give 400,000 rice farmers dry season inputs

The Technical Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on Rice Value Chain Agenda, Dr. Andrew Efisue, stated this at a meeting with stakeholders in rice production recently in Bauchi. He said each farmer would receive three bags of fertiliser at 50 percent discount and 25kg of improved rice seeds for free, adding […]

The Technical Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on Rice Value Chain Agenda, Dr. Andrew Efisue, stated this at a meeting with stakeholders in rice production recently in Bauchi.
He said each farmer would receive three bags of fertiliser at 50 percent discount and 25kg of improved rice seeds for free, adding that the farmers would also be supported with water pumps at 75 per cent discount.
The adviser said: “The effort produced more than one million tonnes of rice last year in dry season farming alone, with just over 200,000 farmers drawn from ten states, we intend to double or even triple the production this year”.
Dr. Efisue explained that distribution exercise which will take place between December 9 and 14, 2013, was part of government’s efforts to stop the importation of rice by 2015 with high priority on dry season farming.