Governor Umar Bago of Niger State, says farmers in the state are now returning to their farms.
Bago added that he had offered to pilot the planned 500,000 hectares of agricultural production announced by President Bola Tinubu in his New Year message.
The governor stated this in a statement on Sunday after meeting with President Tinubu in Abuja. He said Niger State was becoming a leading state in the food security initiative of the president as it had already started the implementation of 250,000 hectares of dry season farming.
“We’ve already signed an agreement with some companies for off-take and just to keep him up to speed with what we’re doing in agriculture,” he said on his visit to the president.
“The president’s New Year’s speech emphasised agriculture and also the 500,000 hectares the government is planning to farm this 2024.
“Niger State has also provided itself as a pilot state for that project, and we are also ambitious to also match with the Federal Government 500,000 for 500,000.”
He said the president was positive about it, adding that he was delighted with what the state was doing.
