The commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Edo State Chapter, Stephen Idehenre has revealed that over 2,078 smallholder farmers have received Irrigation Equipment and Assets from the state government.
Speaking during the distribution on Friday, in Benin, Idehenre said that the effort was part of Nigeria’s COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES).
According to him, the facilities were jointly funded by the World Bank, and the federal and Edo state governments and distributed under the FADAMA Edo CARES window.
He added that the distribution of the irrigation equipment and agricultural assets was geared towards supporting irrigation and all-round farming in the state.
Speaking further, he revealed that a total of 1,832 farmers had earlier benefited from the same programme in the state.
Idehenre said 14 persons were empowered with Solar Irrigation Pump, 436 persons were given 218 pumps while some poultry farmers from Ooredoo, Egor, Ikpoba Okha and Uhunmwonde local governments benefitted from feather-picking machines.
Before now, Edo State Coordinator of the FADAMA project, Edward Izevbigie, congratulated the beneficiaries, however, urged them to make use of the facilities to improve their farming activities as well as their financial well-being.
In an interview with press, some of the beneficiaries, including Kanabe Ahmed, tomato farmer, and John Imohimi, a poultry farmer, commended the federal and state governments for the empowerment.
They declared that the equipment would go a long way in boosting the productivity of their farms and assured that they would use the equipment judiciously.
