Yobe State Government has concluded plans to empower over 2,600 small-scale farmers across all 17 local government areas (LGAs) for the 2024 planting season.
Alhaji Ali Goneri, the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, revealed this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Damaturu.
“We want to empower 15 farmers across each of the 178 local government areas (LGAs) of the state, providing them with a comprehensive set of agricultural inputs for crop development.
“We are also going to provide goats to a selected woman in each of the 178 wards, helping them start sustainable businesses and build financial independence,” he said.
The commissioner added that the government was taking concrete steps to identify genuine grassroots farmers.
“To ensure accessibility, affordability and avoid commercial exploitation, we will directly involve traditional rulers and other key stakeholders across all 178 wards for the selection process,” he explained.
He added that government was implementing several measures to ensure farmers had access and could afford essential agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers, tractors, and more.
“It has been a tradition in this state to subsidize agricultural products by 60% for the past 30 years.
“We aim to make these inputs more affordable, ultimately improving agricultural productivity and yields in our state,” Goneri added.
The commissioner noted that, part of the state’s long term plans, it had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Turkish government to establish a tractor assembly plant in the state capital.
He added that Yobe also signed a $2bn MoU with Trans Sahara Consortium to accelerate livestock production through application of biotechnologies among other measures.
