No fewer than 6,808 rice farmers in Edo State had benefited from the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme during the 2013/2014 dry season rice farming in the state.
Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Edo, Mr Wellington Omoragbon, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Benin.
He said that the rice farmers in the state benefited from the scheme by redeeming fertiliser at 50 per cent subsidised rate.
He said water pumps, rice reapers and threshers allocated to the state were also provided to the farmers at subsidised rate to enhance the dry season rice farming.
According to him, 30 agro dealer redemption centres were created where these inputs are redeemed at subsided rates by registered farmers.
“At the moment, farmers have redeemed 129,284 bags of NPK, 125, 351 bags of urea, 40, 012kg of maize seeds and 13, 348kg of rice seeds,” he said.
He said government incentive was aimed at boosting production of agricultural produce to ensure self-sufficiency in food production. He explained that government was also determined to guarantee food security and stop importation of rice into the country.
The director also said that the ministry had registered about 152, 110 farmers under the GES programme.
Omoragbon gave the assurance that the ministry was ready and would continue with the registration of farmers, who were yet to key into the programme.
He said the Federal Government was committed to farmers’ welfare and had made arrangement for the delivery of tractors and other farm equipment for 2015 farming season.
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