In order to boost dry season farming, Borno State governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, has subsidized the pump price of petrol to N500 per litre against the market price of N730, for farmers in Damasak, Mobbar Local Government Area.
Governor Zulum also unveiled a 90-horsepower capacity solar irrigation pump station in Damasak during his visit to the town at the weekend.
It was gathered that the pumping station, with a combined 90HP capacity, has a 115 Kilowatt solar farm powering three units of 30HP pumps, discharging 225 litres of water per second with 105 discharge points covering 125 hectares of rice fields.
According to Zulum, his administration was shifting its focus from continuous food distribution to empowering farming activities in the state.
In his words: “Shorter-term solutions to our problems are no longer sustainable, continuous provision of food to the people and keeping of IDPs in the camp is not sustainable either. Therefore, we want to shift our focus from shorter-term humanitarian support to medium and longer-term sustainable solutions, which is agriculture.”
One million litres of petrol, he noted, would be provided for farmers under the scheme, which would be available in all the local government areas of the state.
“I want to announce that for this year’s irrigation activities, the government of Borno State is to procure one million litres of petrol and distribute it in the entire state at a subsidized rate to farmers.
“In addition to this, we have procured 20,000 bags of fertiliser, 1,000 solar-powered water pumps and another 5,000 water pump machines to be distributed to farmers across the three senatorial districts of Borno,” he added.
While in Damasak, Governor Zulum also distributed fertilizers, solar and petrol-powered water pumping machines with accessories and agrochemicals for farmers in two local government areas.
The governor supervised the distribution of 4,500 bags of fertilizers, 1,000 conventional water pumps and their accessories, 9,000 litres of agrochemicals and 50 surface solar water pumps for 4,500 farmers from Mobar and Abadam Local Government Areas.
“This morning, we are flagging off the distribution of dry-season farm inputs to farmers in northern Borno. 4,500 farmers have benefited from fertilisers, agrochemicals and water-pumping machines,” Zulum said.
He further inspected the expanded Nglayi scheme, Zanna Umarti, Dushi, Damasak Central and all other accessible farms in Damasak.
The Ngalayi scheme, which was started with 500 hectares of land in 2022, has now been expanded to over 1,500 hectares.
Also speaking at the visit was the Borno State Commissioner for Agriculture, Engr. Bawu Musami, who highlighted Governor Zulum’s achievements in agriculture.
He listed the establishment of modern, innovative and climate-smart irrigation schemes at Bokkoiri of Konduga, Kulunnam of Magumeri, Jaffi in Kwaya Kusar, Mafa scheme in Mafa, Bulabulin, Shuwari and Gajibo of Dikwa, Logomane of Ngala LGAs, respectively.
He added that Governor Zulum had directed the replication of the schemes in all the three senatorial zones of Borno State.
