No fewer than 1,108 rice farmers in Daura Local Government, Katsina State would benefit from the wet season agricultural inputs under the 2019 first phase of the Federal Government anchor borrower agricultural scheme.
Malam Nura Baure, the chapter Chairman of the Rice Farmers Association (RIFAN) made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Daura.
He said all necessary arrangements for distribution of the inputs had been completed and assured that it would be distributed in accordance with the number of eligible farmers who fullfilled all the necessary conditions of obtaining the loan.
According to him, each farmer would be provided with water pumping machine, fertiliser, insecticides, herbicides, chemical sprayers and seedlings as loan which was to be repaid with paddy rice after a year.
Baure added that an estimated 5,800 farmers were expected to benefit from the scheme during the second phase of the programme in June.
He said that the data capture of the beneficiaries was currently ongoing, adding that the quantity of cultivable hectare registered against an individual farmer or organisation determines the quantity of the inputs to be collected.
The chairman said that prosecution of some of the beneficiaries who refused to repay the loan earlier collected would soon begin.
He added that his office has made significant progress in terms of the loan repayment as those who were serious and committed had since started repaying, stressing that steady progress is being made.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that no fewer than 2,500 farmers have benefited from the anchor borrower agricultural scheme in Daura local government area since the inception of the programme three years ago.