Niger State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Susan A .Gana, has said that the state government in collaboration with its technical partners has distributed 100, 000 seedlings of citrus and mango to out-growers farmers in the state.
The commissioner, who said this at a workshop on Fruit-Crop Out-growers Initiative Project in Minna, said the state in collaboration with Niger Resources limited, is proposing to establish one million fruit trees in the state.
She said the state was endowed with potentials for fruit trees production, which the project intends to exploit with the aim of producing fruit concentrates for juice producers in the country.
“Government has also spent N60 million on the procurement and distribution of assorted tree-crops seedlings to farmers in the state under the project. The securing of N1 billion from the Federal Government for small scale farmers is a clear testimony of government’s resolve to commercialize the sector”, she said.
On his part, the chairman of Niger Resources Limited, Mallam Ibrahim Aliyu said based on the arrangement with the state government for the establishment of a 14,000 ton concentrate plant, a 10,000 hectares of land would be needed for the cultivation of mango, orange and guava fruits.
Culled from Daily Trust
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