In furtherance of his desire to make Cross River the leading rice producing state in the country, Governor Ben Ayade has signed a pact with the government of Israel to train 1,000 rice farmers on modern farming techniques.
Speaking at an orientation exercise for the farmers at the Ayade Industrial Park, Calabar, Ayade said the training was to create wealth for farmers through capacity building and access to modern farming techniques and equipment.
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“Today’s exercise is to announce to the world that Cross River is fully prepared to become number one rice producer in Nigeria, with the training and equipping of over 1,000 farmers with 21st century farming skills in the first phase of the training progamme,” he said.
Ayade said the decision to bring Israeli experts to handle the training is to expose farmers in the state to modern farming methods and machines.
“I brought experts from Israel to train us and allow us to have the full benefit of our rice factory that we have set up here for maximal benefits to the citizenry.”
He said the training programme is also part of his administration’s deliberate programme to industrialise the state with a view to decoupling it from over dependence on federal allocations.
