ASHENEWS reports that the Niger state governor, Mohammed Bago says the state government is expecting delivery of 1,000 mechanized farming tools, including 300 tractors and 1,000 handhelds by the end of February 2024.
Bago stated this while inspecting some of the tractors and handhelds delivered to the state at the Minna Airport on Tuesday.
The state government earlier announced a $650 million partnership between it and John Deere Limited, a manufacturing company in the United States.
Bago therefore explained that the state is expecting more than 1,000 tractors in the next six months.
The governor maintained that the effort is geared towards achieving food sufficiency in the state.
The governor announced that it has so far cleared over a million hectares of land for cultivation in the state.
This online platform reports that the Niger state governor had also inspected some bulletproof Toyota Land Cruiser Buffalos procured by the state government in a bid to tackle insecurity in some parts of the state.
Bago said that the vehicles would further consolidate his effort to secure the state from bandits and other criminal elements.
When Bago presented the 2024 budget tagged “Budget for the Future” to the state House of Assembly in December last year, he said his administration would give priority to agriculture to harness the vast arable land and abundant water resources of the state which the Governor said can make the state become a major agricultural hub in Nigeria.
He said it is in a bid to harness its agricultural potential and improve the livelihoods of its rural population, Bago announced a series of initiatives aimed at promoting food security, rural development, and livestock management.
According to him, his administration plans to leverage its comparative advantage in agriculture by providing farmers with improved agricultural inputs, expanding cultivation areas, offering extension services, providing tractors, and attracting donor support to the sector.
Bago added that the government proposed to invest N43.5 billion in the agricultural sector to attract at least one billion US dollars of investment to the state which is in tandem with the government’s commitment to maximize and fully harness its green economy potentials.
This commitment, according to the Governor, is reflected in the allocation of funds for buffer stock initiatives, which will address fluctuations in food prices by purchasing assorted grains.
