Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State
By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno state on Monday hosted an agro-facilitating team from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and disclosed that the state government was targeting the cultivation of 65,000 hectares of different crops, to begin this year.
The Governor said Borno was interested in keying into CBN’s anchor borrowers and commercial agriculture programmes with the aim of cultivating 30,000 hectares of sesame seeds, 10,000 hectares of maize, 10,000 hectares of sorghum, 15,000 hectares for cultivation of rice, groundnut and cow-pea with each to take 5,000 hectares.
According to the governor, the cultivation is to take place in farms located in the Borno central, south and north, in line with the governor’s aggressive efforts to restore agriculture in livelihood protection for internally displaced persons and resettled communities.
Governor Zulum also at the meeting, indicated keen interest in Borno taking advantage of CBN’s fish farming intervention.
Teams from Borno state government and the CBN are expected to hold another meeting in Maiduguri next week to agree on areas the bank will support “huge investment to create value chain in fish farming”.
Zulum had identified communities in Borno state where citizens engage in fish farming will be supported , pointing out that his administration was going to invest in ways and manners the citizens would have increase in their yield for wealth creation and to enhance food sufficiency in the state.
The meeting, which was held at the Borno Liaison Office Complex in Abuja, had in attendance six officials from the apex bank, led by Alhaji Mahmood Nyako, a Deputy Director, whose team included CBN’s Head of Anchor Borrowers, Mr. Chika Nwaja, and Mohammed Garba Said who heads the bank’s fish farming intervention programme.
Borno State Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Engr Bukar, Talba and the Chairman of Borno State Mega Farms Project, Hon. Musa Inuwa Kubo were on Zulum’s team.