‘Plateau to harvest 1m tonnes of rice this season’

Rice farmers in Plateau state are optimistic of a bumper harvest this year with their chairman, Joshua Bitrus, boasting that members would garner “at least one million tonnes.”
“This year’s harvest is plentiful; from what we have seen on ground, we expect nothing less than one million tonnes of rice in Plateau,” Bitrus, who is also the chairman, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RiFAN), Plateau chapter, said in Jos, yesterday.
He spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
The RiFAN boss attributed the feat to personal efforts of the farmers and the support from the state government.
He commended the federal government’s efforts towards boosting rice production, and declared that rice production would triple in Plateau, when the Anchor Borrowers Scheme takes off.
“I must commend government for the Anchor Borrowers Scheme, initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which will be test-run in Plateau during the dry season farming.
“We have identified 1, 065 hectares of land across the state; the areas are close to water because water is crucial to rice farming.
“The planting will commence in the first week of December, while harvest starts by March, next year.”
According to him, the success of the pilot scheme will boost farmers’ morale and shore up interest in the scheme.
Bitrus also commended the ban on the importation of rice, noting that it had encouraged local farmers.
He said with the quantity of rice being harvested in many parts of the country, the pains rice consumers went through when the price rose up, would reduce as the prices would drop. (Premium Times)