Building on the strides made in the agricultural sector in the state, the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration has concluded plans on a partnership with the Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and Sterling Bank, on the development of, at least, 1,500 hectares of farmland in different locations across the state.
Acting governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu, who disclosed this when a team from NIRSAL paid a courtesy visit to the Government House in Benin City, assured farmers in the state of adequate incentives to boost productivity.
Shaibu said the state government is committed to the partnership which ensures that farmers get necessary financial support to fast track the introduction of mechanised farming in the state.
“I commend the banking sector for coming to the rescue of the agricultural sector. They are making the process of introducing farmers to new techniques and technologies easy. This will help in boosting productivity.”
He added that the state government designed an entrepreneur programme for youths, which will help in grooming them for profitable agribusiness.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security Programme, Joe Okojie, reiterated that agriculture remains the easiest and fastest way to create wealth, and noted “People don’t pay much attention to agriculture in this country, but this system seems different in the sense that it is going to be strictly mechanised. We aggregate all the farmers, link them to funding, inputs and markets.”
He said there are offtakers for whatever the farmers produce, which is going to boost their confidence in developing large expanse of farmland.
“For instance, we have a rice belt in Iguoriakhi, where we are doing above 500 hectares of rice. We aggregated all the farmers that have been traditionally farming rice and helped in developing the land. We brought in the NIRSAL, to take it from mechanisation to harvesting. In Illushi, we are doing about 1,000 hectares of rice farming…”
