The president’s wife, Oluremi Tinubu, disbursed N70 million on Tuesday to 140 women farmers in the country’s North-West region.

Twenty women in agriculture from the seven states in the zone received N500,000 each under the Renewed Hope Initiative Women Agricultural Support Programme of the first lady.

Similarly, 100 people with disabilities benefited from N100,000 each in the region.

While disbursing the funds in Birnin Kebbi, Mrs Tinubu said the scheme aimed to encourage women farmers to grow more food, which is in line with the agricultural agenda of the Tinubu-led administration.

Mrs Tinubu affirmed her commitment to energising women in agriculture to improve production, including animal husbandry.

“Agriculture plays a pivotal role in achieving sustainable development and food security,” said Mrs Tinubu. “Consequently, we are introducing the ‘Every Home a Garden’ competition to encourage each Nigerian woman to cultivate a garden at home to feed the family and share with neighbours; we want to see food on every table.”

Represented by Fatima Tajuddeen-Abbas, the wife of the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs Tinubu explained that the competition winner would pocket a N20 million star prize.

“This is in addition to plans to introduce the formation of a young farmers club in primary and secondary schools nationwide to encourage farming awareness among pupils and students towards self-sufficiency.

“Schools with the best farms will be identified and rewarded,” she announced.

Earlier, the wife of Kebbi governor Zainab Nasir-Idris thanked Mrs Tinubu for her generosity and choosing the state to launch the programme for the North-West region.

In his remarks, Governor Nasir Idris announced that his administration had spent enormous amounts of money procuring fertiliser and agricultural inputs distributed free to farmers to strengthen agricultural production in the state.

He reiterated that his administration would continue to provide an enabling environment to support women’s participation in agriculture, including access to market finance and technology for food security.

(NAN)