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FG boosts dry season farming with N14bn

By on January 22, 2014

The Federal Government on Monday boosted the 2014 dry season farming in the country with a N14bn support.

President Goodluck Jonathan announced the financial support during the inauguration of the dry season farm support programme held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said the sum was reviewed upward by 56 per cent from N9bn earmarked for the programme in 2013 because more states were now part of it.

Jonathan promised to increase the financial support as more states keyed into the project.

He said, “Our resolve to expand this dry season programme is strong and subsequently it has to come up in October so that they (farmers) will get what they need before the commencement of the dry season.

“To demonstrate this, I am today announcing N14bn to support dry seasoning farming for the 2014 season. Last year, it was N9bn; this year, it is N14bn and as more states come on board, we will continue to increase the amount of money.

“With our revolution in the agriculture and power sectors, and the launching of the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company, the housing sector will start a major revolution.”

Jonathan said because of his administration’s commitment to ensuring that the nation fed itself, he would expand the Growth Enhancement Scheme to reach more farmers.

He added that sometime this year, the Federal Government would launch a fund for small and medium scale farmers.

The President promised that in his bid to continue to support Nigerian farmers, dry season farming would soon become a national policy.

He said the production of food in the rainy season alone was no longer adequate; hence the nation must produce food during the dry season.

“Our nation shall be green, our barns shall be filled and our farmers shall prosper,” Jonathan said.

He observed that agriculture remained the largest contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product and the largest employer of labour.

 

[Punch]