No fewer than 20,000 hectares of irrigable land would be cultivated by wheat farmers registered under the Anchor Borrower programme in Kano state in this year dry season farming.
The state chairman of Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, WFAN, Alhaji Musa Shehu-Sheka, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Sunday in Kano.
Mr Shehu-Sheka said the association had registered 15, 000 farmers under the programme for this year’s irrigation season, saying that their names had been forwarded to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for verification.
“Our association has registered 15, 000 farmers under the Anchor Borrower programme and the CBN is currently verifying the list, to ascertain whether anyone of them has collected another loan under other commodity,” he said.
He said the farmers had commenced clearing their farmlands in readiness for the planting season which is expected to commence any moment from now up to the end of December.
The WFAN chairman commended the Federal Government for its decision to close the country’s borders, noting that the measures had encouraged many farmers who abandoned wheat production due to lack of market to return to the business.
“Many of our members who abandoned wheat production, due to lack of ready market, have expressed their willingness to return to the business because with the closure of borders, there will be no wheat importation anymore.”