15,000 farmers benefit from N375m BOA loan in Borno

Some 15,000 cassava farmers have so far benefited from the N375 million loan facility provided by the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to boost cassava production in Adamawa.

Alhaji Lawal Umara, Chairman, Borno Cassava Farmers Cooperative Union (BCFCU), stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Maiduguri.

Umara said that the farmers who received N250,000 each were drawn from the 27 local government areas of the state.

He said that the initiative was part of government's effort to enhance cassava production for local consumption and for export.

He said that the initiative would go a long way to ensure food security in the state and the country in general.

Umara said that cassava farmers in the state also received about 10,000 bundles of cassava seedlings under the Federal Government's Agricultural Enhancement Programme to enable them improve on their yield.

He said that the association also secured 100 hectares of farm in each of the 27 local government areas for cassava farmers.

'Some of our members were also empowered to produce different varieties of cassava.

'Plans are also underway to train 2,700 women farmers who lost their farmlands due to the activities of insurgents in some local government areas.

'The women would be trained on how to make biscuits, bread, cakes, doughnuts, pies, rolls and chin-chin, among items,'' he said. (NAN)