The Borno State Government is to partner with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) engage farmers cultivate 65,000 hectres of land produce sesame seeds, maize and rice to restore their livelihoods. The means of livelihoods of farmers, were destroyed in the over a decade long Boko Haram insurgency, which has claimed many lives and property. While unfolding restoration of farmers’ livelihoods on Monday; to apex bank’s team leader; Mahmood Nyako in Abuja, Governor Babagana Zulum disclosed that; “I’m engaging farmers to cultivate 65,000 hectres of land to produce six different crops for household and industrial uses.” He said that the engagements of IDP returnees on their farmlands commence this year. According to him, farmers’ livelihoods project, are in line with government’s aggressive efforts to restore agriculture in livelihood protection for IDPs and returnee farmers. His words: “The state government is interested key into CBN’s anchor borrowers and commercial agricultures programmes. “Our aim is to cultivate 30,000 hectres of sesame seeds, 10,000 hectres of maize and 10, 000 hectres of sorghum. “This administration, is also engaging returnee farming households to cultivate 15,000 hectres of farmlands to produce rice, groundnuts and cowpea.” He said the identified crops, have economic comparative advantages of producing them in Borno north, central and south senatorial districts. CBN’s head of fish farming programme, Mohammed Said and State’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Bukar Talba and Borno’s mega farms project, Musa Kubo are to also meet in Maiduguri next week. According to Zulum, the meeting is to agree on areas the bank could ‘invest and support’ state government create value chains in fish farming. “This administration was going to invest in areas; where farmers could increase their yields to create wealth to achieve food security in the state and nation,” he said.
