The Sokoto State Government is to introduce 30 tractors to start a hire scheme as part of efforts to boost mechanised farming and food production.
The state governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal made this known at Kware local government area on Thursday while inspecting the agricultural processing machines to be distributed to farmers under the state Fadama III additional funding scheme.
“We are starting with 30 tractors with each of the three senatorial districts issued with 10 tractors each.
“This initiative will be implemented with the collaboration of the Fadama III coordinating office, the state Ministry of Agriculture and the state investment company which will provide the tractors,” he said.
He said that a strict vetting process would be implemented for beneficiaries, to ensure that small and large-scale farmers were able to access tractors and other farming equipment.
“We hope to expand the scheme to ensure we have enough tractors to help our farmers have access to modern farm tools at affordable prices,” he said.
Mr Tambuwal said 127 processing groups, comprising 1,385 smallholder farmers, had benefited from the agricultural processing machines and equipment distributed to farmers across the state by the Fadama III office.
According to him, in addition to the creation of two agricultural produce aggregation centres, 11 tomato production net houses have been established at various locations in the state.
“This gesture is part of our collective efforts towards modernising our farming techniques to improve yield and income of our farmers,” he said.
The governor further said that 243 unemployed youths had been trained to explore the agribusiness sub-sector.
He said that the training was to instill in the youths and women the technical and practical skills that would enhance their competitiveness in agri-preneurship.
NAN
