Emmanuel Ano, Special Adviser on Agriculture to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River, has said that the current administration empowered more farmers than previous ones or any state in Nigeria.

“There is no state in Nigeria that has given more support to farmers as much as Cross River State has done,” Mr Ano said in an interview on Saturday.

He said that this was made possible through various government policy initiatives that had seen the enhancement in the value chain of agriculture in Cross River.

He said since 1999, no government in the state has given more attention to the sector than the current administration.

He stressed that as part of the agricultural revolution, several agro-industries were set up by the government while thousands of farmers were trained in various fields of agriculture.

The governor’s aide further said that aside from the training, the government provided various loans to farmers to boost their farming.

“The problem we have had in the past, and of course, one of the challenges of agricultural development is the challenge of the market, market access.

“The government has also invested so much on capacity building for farmers. Just recently, 5,800 farmers were trained in an institute in Abuja. You will agree with me that this is not a common thing in the country.”

He expressed regret that several farmers that were given loans to boost their farming activities failed to pay back the loan that was supposed to be revolving ones to others.

However, Mr Ano said, “We are having engagement with the farmers at different levels to recover these loans. While some are responding, many others have failed to.”

(NAN)