Date: 2020-06-12

*Pledges government's commitment to agric sector.

*Lauds government over Tractorization Subsidy Scheme.

Kwara State Government said it will continue to support farmers with farm inputs and machineries as part of efforts to scale up food production and encourage commercial farming in the state.

The State Commissioner for Communication, Alhaji Olarewaju Muritala told reporters in his office while expantiating the government's mission on the Tractorization Subsidy Scheme, launched recently in Lafiagi, Edu local government of the state, with at least 55 tractors ready for distribution across the sixteen local governments.

He explained that the equipment are subsidized with #6000, bringing the hiring cost down from #16,000 to #10,000 per hectare of land. He said the government's gesture, which he said, further demonstrates its seriousness about calls to go back to farm, will go a long way to attracting youths and women into farming and decreasing the rate of unemployment in the state.

He described agric as an important sector that stands to add value to human existence and which is incidentally featured in the priority list of this administration, saying Governor AbdulRazaq is determined to heighten agribusiness in kwara and also make the state a food basket of the nation.

The Commissioner, while urging farmers to grab the opportunity that he said has capacity to deepen their pockets at the end of the harvest, said the scheme is believed to also have a positive impact on the prices of commodities in the markets, which according to him, are naturally dependent on cost of production.

Olarewaju added that the initiative is part of the government's post Covid-19 programmes to stimulate interest for partaking in businesses as an essential vehicle to revitalize the state's economy, appealing to prospective beneficiaries to adhere strictly to every guidelines as far as the scheme is concerned.

He disclosed that more agricultural packages like provision of good seedlings and fertilizers are underway, pledging the government's focus on ensuring that farmers enjoy a bumper harvest at the end of this farming season.

He said the era of no tractors for farming is over in kwara and that the government will continue to initiate policies and programmes that will make the offtaking of farm yields easy and profitable.