Mr Ikechukwu Jude, the Project Coordinator of FADAMA III Additional Financing project in Enugu State, says farmers in the state have recorded appreciable increase in rice production.
Jude told newsmen in Enugu on Thursday that the feat was recorded because of the provision of farm assets and irrigation facilities in the state.
He said that no fewer than 5,000 farmers in the state had been supported via the provision of irrigation facilities, threshers, pesticides, machetes and other inputs in the last two farming cycles.
“In the last 16 months, the project has been providing the enabling environment for farmers.
“As a result of this, we recorded an increase in rice production, from 3.3 tonnes per hectare in the 2015 farming season to 4.4 tonnes per hectare in the 2016 farming season.
“We are now targeting to further increase rice production to 6.5 tonnes per hectare in the 2017 farming season,” he said.
Jude said that the project office was currently working on the construction of 46.89 km rural feeder roads, while developing irrigation facilities in four communities in the state.
“Our aim is to make farming very interesting and impressive for people; we also want to encourage them to go into farming,” he said.
The project coordinator said that the state government was striving hard to encourage all year round cultivation of rice, while improving its value chain.
Jude said that the state had the requisite capacity to produce rice in commercial quantities, adding that the state FADAMA office was planning to support no fewer than 5,000 farmers in the rice value chain.
“We have to support a minimum of 5,000 farmers in the state; they have already formed cooperative societies and signed a tripartite agreement with farm inputs dealers,” he said.
Jude said that the state FADAMA project office had provided fertilisers, seedlings and pesticides for farmers at a discount rate of 50 per cent.
He commended the Federal Government for its commitment to diversifying the economy and ensuring the transformation of the agricultural sector. (NAN)