By Awyetu Asabe Hope
The Bank of Agriculture has begun distributing fertilisers, maize seeds and crop protection products to about 500,000 smallholder farmers under the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Smallholder Support and Value Chain Fund.
The initiative was flagged off in Dutse, Jigawa State, on Sunday, targeting farmers in more than 20 states.
It is expected to support the cultivation of 520,000 hectares of farmland and produce an estimated 2.6 million tonnes of additional food.
BOA Managing Director Ayo Sotinrin said nearly 200,000 farmers had already been financed, while 1.8 million bags of fertiliser and 329,000 bags of improved seeds were being distributed through 20 Farmer Aggregation Companies.
Sotinrin said more than one-third of the beneficiaries are women, describing the programme as part of the Federal Government’s drive to strengthen food security and support smallholder farmers.
He urged beneficiaries to use the inputs effectively and adopt recommended agronomic practices, while beneficiary Solomon Mathew described the intervention as timely, saying it would help farmers expand cultivation and improve productivity.
