Petrol pump price has been subsidised to N500 per litre against the market price of N730 by Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum for farmers in Damasak, Northern part of the state, to boost dry season farming.
The governor also unveiled a 90-horsepower capacity solar irrigation pump station in Damasak during his visit to the town at the weekend.
The pumping station, with a combined 90HP capacity, has a 115 Kilowatt solar farm powering three units of 30HP pumps, discharging 225 litres of water per second with 105 discharge points covering 125 hectares of rice fields.
Zulum explained that his administration was shifting its focus from continuous food distribution to empowering farming activities in the state
“Shorter-term solution to our problems is no longer sustainable, continuous provision of food to the people and keeping of IDPs in the camp is not sustainable either. Therefore, we want to shift our focus from shorter-term humanitarian support to medium and longer-term sustainable solutions, which is agriculture,” Zulum said.
The governor noted that one million litres of petrol would be provided for farmers under the scheme, which would be available in all the local government areas of the state.
“I want to announce that for this year’s irrigation activities, the government of Borno State is to procure one million litres of petrol and distribute it in the entire state at a subsidised rate to farmers.
“In addition to this, we have procured 20,000 bags of fertiliser, 1,000 solar-powered water pumps and another 5,000 water pump machines to be distributed to farmers across the three senatorial districts of Borno,” he added.
While in Damasak, Governor Zulum also distributed fertilisers, solar and petrol-powered water pumping machines with accessories and agrochemicals for farmers in two local government areas.