Borno spends N30b to create jobs in modern agric business
The Borno state government has spent N30 billion on procurement of modern agricultural equipments and machineries to boost agricultural and livestock resources in the Lake Chad Basin and Savannah regions in order to create jobs, Governor Kashim Shettima has said.
He spoke on Tuesday while inspecting the Green House Seedlings Multiplication Centre (GHSMC) established for modern farming in Maiduguri the Borno state capital.
He said over 100 seeds multiplication centres which employ Sprinkler Irrigation system will be established across the 27 Local government areas of the state, as soon as peace returns.
“Unemployment among our youths is a time bomb, which if not tackled within the shortest possible time, it will explode and have devastating effects on the society, hence the huge investment of N30 billion in the agricultural sector, as it is the main employer of labour in Borno," Shettima said.
The governor added that the state government has also procured over 1, 000 tractors, 25 combined harvesters and other modern agricultural implements in order to harness the agricultural potentials of the state, which is the main economic resources of the people, stressing that people have to move away from subsistence agriculture to the mechanized system.
Earlier, briefing the Governor on arrival at the Green House Projects, the Chairman Borno State Agricultural Transformation Team (BATT), Alahji Ibrahim Ali, said that each of the Green House will consist of 19 beds capable of raising 2.5 million seedlings of tomatoes, pepper and other vegetables within two weeks.
“This agricultural project is one of the biggest in the sub-Saharan Africa and we have to train our staff properly before fully engaging them to assist our foreign technical partners from Asian countries," Ali said.
He said the state government will also soon established multi crop processing plants in the state in order to minimize waste of crops and vegetables in the agricultural sector, due to poor preservation method in this part of country.