3,800 Cooperatives To Participate In RIFAN’s Rice Seminar

The Bayelsa State chap
ter of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) said on Sunday that 3,885 cooperative societies would participate in a proposed rice production seminar in the state.
RIFAN Chairman in the state, Mr Ezeikel Ogbianko, told our correspondent in Yenagoa that the seminar was to enlighten the rice farmers on modern farming techniques.
Ogbianko said the seminar was also to educate them on the need to support the Federal Government’s initiative on achieving self-sufficiency in food production.
He said the young rural-based rice farmers would be drawn from the eight local government areas of the state.
“We are working hard to go into full mechanised farming and that is why we came up with the plan to organise a seminar for the rice farmers in the grassroots.
“We have acquired a total of 11,000 hectares of land with 5,000 hectares at Okogbe, Ogbia Local Government Area, while 6,000 hectares is at Nembe.
“We are planning to start clearing these portions of land,” he said.
However, the chairman identified major challenges to the rice project to include lack of access roads to the farmlands and difficulties in accessing agricultural loans.
“We do receive farm inputs like paddy rice as well as fertilisers. The fertilisers are supplied at a subsidised price.
“We want the disbursement of these inputs to always go through the real farmers or traditional rulers who reside in the rural areas and know who the real farmers are.
“We must take away politics from agricultural business,” Ogbianko advised.