Enugu Farmers Get N1bn Lifeline

The Enugu State Government is to disburse N1 billion to farmer co-operative groups as part of efforts to ensure the success of the Enugu-Songhai Initiative.

The Chairman of the State Assembly Committee on Agriculture, Mr Okey Nwoke, told our correspondent  in Enugu that the fund would be accessed from the CBN.

He said that the fund would be used to procure agro-allied inputs for the smooth take off of the Songhai Initiative.

Nwoke said the exercise was delayed to enable government tidy up the “grey ‘’ areas for smooth disbursement of the fund to genuine farmers who were trained for six months at Songhai farms in Benin Republic.            “There is no way government will spend a whopping sum of N268 million to train 165 graduates in agriculture only to abandon them.

“The delay you may have noticed is to enable government to complete the paper work for easy disbursement and documentation of beneficiaries,’’ he said.

The lawmaker expressed optimism that by the end of this year’s farming season, the state would be able to achieve self sufficiency in food production for local consumption and export.

Nwoke also said with the passage of the 2011 budget, the agriculture ministry would be able to access the CBN fund for onward distribution to government approved farmer co-operative societies.