Barau Jibrin To Support 558 Farmers With N2.79bn

Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, has earmarked N2.79 billion for investment in agriculture across the 186 local governments in the seven states of the Northwest zone.

Jibrin said he intends to raise three young millionaire farmers in each of the 186 local governments with N5 million interest-free loan for each beneficiary in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states.

At a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday, the Deputy Senate President said the project will take off with the 2025 farming season, starting from April.

The project, which is to be midwifed by the Barau Initiative for Agricultural Revolution in the North West (BIARN), aimed at boosting the agricultural sector towards attaining food security, “in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.”

Speaking through his Special Adviser on Policy and Monitoring, Professor Bashir Muhammad Fagge, Jibrin said the initiative is being coordinated by his foundation, the Barau I Jibrin Foundation (BIJF).

He said, “Food security is paramount and at the top of the agenda of progressive nations globally. Without it, you are insecure at the individual, family, local government, state, and country levels.

“If you recall, decades ago, the North, especially the North West, was our country’s food basket, producing most of the agricultural products for consumption by the people nationwide and even for export to our neighbouring countries. However, that has become history.

“To change the narrative and harness the enormous arable land across the seven North West states, I have developed the initiative of empowering 558 young farmers in the North West geopolitical zone for the first phase of the programme.

“The Barau Initiative for Agricultural Revolution in the North West (BIARN) programme aims to use the vast arable land in the geopolitical zone to restore its agricultural prominence and achieve food security.

“My foundation, the Barau I Jibrin Foundation (BIJF), is partnering with a relevant national financial institution to implement this programme.

“It will interest you to know that we have had a series of meetings with the institution’s management. Arrangements for the project’s launch are almost complete. The initiative’s targeted April this year to launch fully, ahead of this year’s farming season.

“Each selected beneficiary will receive an interest-free N5 million loan to invest in farming during this year’s cropping season. The sum of N2.79 billion will be disbursed to the beneficiaries.

“The breakdown of the beneficiaries per state is as follows: Kaduna 69, Kano 132, Kebbi 63, Katsina 102, Jigawa 81, Sokoto 69 and Zamfara 42.”

Jibrin said beneficiaries of the scheme would be guided in cultivating maize and rice crops, to boost the desired yields of the two crops, thereby reducing the cost of food items, and enhancing food security in the zone and the country in general.

He recalled that Nigeria produced about 8.9 metric tons of paddy rice in 2023, being the highest since 2010.

“However, this quantity is far too low to meet the acute needs of the continuously growing populace. The central concept behind this scheme is to revolutionise agricultural production in northwestern Nigeria by empowering youths with a background in agriculture.”

On the source of funding of the project, Jibrin said discussions were almost concluded with a financial institution, with Prof Fagge and his Media Adviser, Alhaji Ismail Mudashir representing the BIARN team.

“The two teams will soon sign the MOU for the project’s take-off. This will be done next week, Insha Allah,” he said.

Barau Jibrin To Support 558 Farmers With N2.79bn is first published on The Whistler Newspaper