AfDB to boost Nigeria’s cassava, sorghum and rice production with $174m

Akinwumi Adesina

African Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with the Federal Government will spend $174m on production of rice, sorghum and cassava in Nigeria under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme-Phase 1 (ATASP-1).

 

The national coordinator of the programme, Engineer H. K Akwashiki, who stated this in Kano at a zonal planning meeting, said the programme would be implemented in seven states of Kano, Jigawa,Niger, Kebbi, Sokoto, Enugu and Anambra.

 

Engineer Akwashiki said that it will cover 28 local government areas of the selected states, 194,426 square kilometers and engaged a population of 32 million farmers.

Akwashiki said the programme was intended to achieve agriculture development, commodity value chain development and  management.

 

He said that three youths training centres will be constructed in Kubwa (FCT), Onnain Rivers and Minjibir in Kano State to build on the entrepreneurship skills and capacities of youths, with a view to introducing them to agribusinesses.

 

Earlier, Kano State Commissioner  for Agriculture, Alhaji Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, represented by the permanent secretary, Hajiya Binta Rabi’u, said the establishment of the programme was timely, considering the difficult economic realities of the globe and the fall in the price of oil