Jonathan approves #14bn for dry season farming #nigeria

The federal government has approved N14 billion to support the 2014 dry season farming in the country. President Goodluck Jonathan announced this at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday while launching the Dry Season Farm Support Programme. The fund, according to him, is for 10 leading rice producing northern states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kogi and Niger. Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister Akinwumi Adesina later told journalists that the money would also cater for wheat and groundnut farming in the north. The president said the support fund would be made a national policy to enhance the growth of farmers and ensure food security in the country. "Our resolve to expand this dry season programme is strong and subsequently, it has to come up in October so that we'll get what we need before the commencement of the dry season. To demonstrate this, I'm today announcing N14billion to support dry seasoning farming for 2014 season. Last year, it was N9billion and as more states come on board, we'll continue to increase the amount of money," he said. He promised that the government would encourage the establishment of marketing corporations to replace the former marketing boards to improve markets and trade opportunities for farmers. The president stressed that the Bank of Agriculture had been re-capitalised to give farmers more access to affordable credit. He said he had received a report that over 600,000 farmers had registered to produce food in this year's dry season "representing an increase of about 1.5 percent over the numbers who participated last year. About 20 more states have registered to participate in dry season farming in this year's programme compared to last year". Jonathan said the government would continue to expand the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) to reach 10 million farmers by the end of this year with improved seeds, fertilizers and other production inputs. He noted that food must be massively produced in both rainy and dry seasons, saying the government would continue to rehabilitate and expand irrigation facilities to support farmers to grow more than one crop per year.