The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, Tuesday led hundreds of farmers in the state to launch a pyramid of rice in Maiduguri, the state capital.
The thousands of bags that was piled into a pyramid at the city’s civic centre, Ramat Square, was a demonstration of the bumper harvest recorded in parts of the state during the last farming season by farmers who are mostly assisted by government.
The pyramid was realised under the federal government assisted Borno Anchor Borrowers Programme, through the (CBN) Anchor Borrowers scheme.
The scheme is aimed at scaling up the local production of rice in order to reduce over-dependence on foreign import of the staple food.
Organisers of the rice pyramid programme, Wal Wanne and Sons Ltd, said about 18,000 farmers were engaged in the scheme.
The local formers in the safe zones like Jere, Konduga, Mafa, Biu, Hawul and Shani local government areas of the state took part in the scheme during the last wet season during which government availed them with farm inputs and tool. – Premium Times