The minister of agriculture, Audu Ogbeh has disclosed that the Anchors Borrowers Programme in Kebbi State, North-West Nigeria, has turned 400,000 individual farmers in the state, to millionaires. Ogbeh made the disclosure at the mid-term town-hall meeting of the federal government in Abuja on Tuesday, May 16.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had kicked-off the ABP programme with a N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) to mobilise only eager farmers in 2015.
The minister said the ABP's success was evident in the popularity of lake rice in Lagos state late last year, after a partnership between and Kebbi and Lagos states. He stated that Nigerians have rediscovered the superior quality and taste of their local rice which is tastier, fresher and healthier than imported rice.
He called on Nigerians to quit patronising foreign rice, even as he charged youths to get involved in the agricultural sector. ''By importing virtually everything we consumed, we carelessly transferred our wealth to make other economies rich. ''We have a powerful young generation, ready to work, looking for what to do and are angry with us. We are in a hurry to address this.
''As we have invited young people into agriculture, it is no longer a matter of cutlass and hoe. We can't put them through that misery.''
The minister also assured of government’s commitment to fight rice smuggling into the country when he said, “…information reaching us indicates that eight ships loaded with low quality rice are heading to Benin Republic to enter Nigeria, but we are waiting for them," the minister said.
