By Festus Fifen

In a sustained effort to revive the agriculture sector in the Seven North West States of Nigeria, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, on Thursday announced his plans to raise 558 young farmers to become millionaires in the 2025 farming season.

Senator Barau who was addressing members of the Senate Press Corps through his Special Adviser on Policy and Monitoring, Professor Bashir Muhammad Fagge in the Senate Press Centre at the National Assembly Abuja said the initiative is being coordinated by his foundation, the Barau I Jibrin Foundation (BIJF).

According to the Kano Born Politician, the Agricultural Intervention Under a program tagged: Barau Initiative for Agricultural Revolution in the North West (BIARN), three young farmers will be selected from each of the 186 local government areas of the seven states that comprise the North West geopolitical zone: Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto and Zamfara states.

In his words, ” Food security is paramount and at the top of the agenda of progressive nations globally. Without it, you are insecure at the individual, family, local government, state, and country levels.

If you recall, decades ago, the North, especially the North West, was our country’s food basket, producing most of the agricultural products for consumption by the people nationwide and even for export to our neighbouring countries. However, that has become history.

To change the narrative and harness the enormous arable land across the seven North West states, I have developed the initiative of empowering 558 young farmers in the North West geopolitical zone for the first phase of the programme.”

Senator Barau said BIARN was established to boost the agricultural sector towards attaining food security in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Each beneficiary will receive N5 million to invest in farming during this season. The total sum of N2.79 billion will be disbursed to the beneficiaries.

” Each selected beneficiary will receive an interest-free N5 million loan to invest in farming during this year’s cropping season. The sum of N2.79 billion will be disbursed to the beneficiaries.

The breakdown of the beneficiaries per state is as follows: Kaduna 69, Kano 132, Kebbi 63, Katsina 102, Jigawa 81, Sokoto 69 and Zamfara 42.

The beneficiaries of this scheme would be guided in cultivating maize and rice crops. This would essentially boost the desired yield of the two crops, reduce the cost of food items, and enhance food security in the zone and nationwide.”