The Plateau Government has provided inputs for farmers in the state to encourage all year-round farming and boost national food security.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Hosea Finangwai, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Jos.
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Finangwai said that the state adopted the intervention policy to meet market demands.
He said that farmers had been given farm inputs, quality seedlings, agro-chemicals and markets for their produce to encourage all year farming, including equipment for irrigation.
‘’The state government also gave farmers liquid fertilisers and linked them with various agro dealers,” he said.
The commissioner said that farmers could now access various platforms that would enable them get soft loans from Central Bank, micro finance banks and through various registered cooperatives within the state.
‘’We have about 450 registered cooperatives, which is aimed at encouraging farmers to come together to learn good agricultural practices and many farmers have accessed these loans at various platforms,‘’ he said.
He further said that 400 extension workers were recruited and deployed to the 17 local government areas to help farmers and to teach them good farming practices that would improve their yield.
He added that some investors now buy farm produce directly from farmers at prevailing market prices, which had further encouraged them to keep producing all year-round. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)