The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that the Federal Government expended two-point-seven trillion naira on agriculture and provision of other critical infrastructure in the 2017 budget. Mohammed disclosed this at a Town Hall Meeting in Dutse on Monday to boost agriculture in the state in particular and the country in general.
The meeting had in attendance the minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, the minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, and the minister of state for Trade, Industry and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar.
Mohammed said that the government has been busy in rehabilitating and constructing rail lines to link all parts of the country with one another. According to the minister, it is necessary to ensure transportation of perishable products like tomatoes, pineapples, onion among others to avoid wastage.
In his remark, agriculture minister, Chief Ogbeh said that it is unfortunate that most of the perishable items get spoiled on the way due to vehicle breakdown or other reasons, hence the need for alternative transportation.
Also speaking, the special assistant to the Central Bank Governor, Mr Olatunde Akande, said the apex bank had intervened to boost agricultural production with N107 billion from 2015 through the Federal Government Anchor Borrowers Scheme. Akande explained that the loan by CBN to farmers is on a single digit interest.
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