Benue state Governor, Samuel Ortom has launched the sale and distribution of tractors to enable farmers in the state commence the 2020 cropping season.
Speaking during the launch in Government House premises in Makurdi, on Thursday, Gov. Ortom tasked farmers in the state to adopt a more mechanized form of farming in order to clear more farm land and boost agricultural production this year.
Ortom lamented the COVID-19 pandemic saying that state government was compelled to launch the sale and distribution of the tractors because this is the beginning of the cropping season and farmers need to go to the farm.
“We also want to ensure that while we observe the stay at home order; we do not go into food crisis. But from your farms, go straight home”, he further advised.
Gov. Ortom who noted that it was the duty of his administration to ensure that the tempo of agricultural activities in Benue are increased and sustained, disclosed that his government has purchased 50 units of tractors for farmers at the rate of N13.9m each.
He explained that the project was funded from the N2billion agricultural loan secured by state government in 2015 to support young and the old farmers in the state.
READ ALSO: 2019 Cropping Season: Benue Govt Procures 180 Trucks of Fertilizer For Farmers
According to him, out of the N13.9million, government has subsidized the rate such that his government will pay 60 percent which is N8.3million while beneficiaries will pay 40 percent amounting to N5.6million each.
The Governor appealed to the 23 local government chairmen who were given one tractor to be used by farmers in their locality, to pay to enable him procure more tractors, just as he urged them to liaise with the state ministry of agriculture on how to train youths to maintain them.
He advised all benefitting local governments and farmers to ensure that the tractors are used within the State, warning that any local government chairman or farmer who takes the machines outside the state will be sanctioned and his or her purchase revoked.
Some of the benefiting local governments expressed joy and satisfaction saying they have patiently waited for the tractors and promising to abide by the instructions of state government on the use of the machinery.
Speaking on behalf of the recipients, Mr. Aondona Saaku thanked the Governor for reaching out to all Benue farmers and promised to put the tractors to judicious use.
Mr. Saaku told the Governor that the real farmers reside at the rural areas and called on him to track the tractors to ensure that none of them is taken outside the state to the detriment of the farmers.
Earlier, speaking on behalf of women farmers in the state, Mrs. Ngizan Chahu said farm implements were among the critical needs of farmers and appreciated the state government for giving them the tractors.
She said: “those of us in the far bush, this will help us a lot and we want government to ensure that the tractors are not taken to neighbouring communities of Nasarawa.”
