By Abubakar Rabilu Gombe
The Vice Chairman, Cotton Producers and Merchant Association of Nigeria (COPMAN), Alhaji Sadiq Ado, says the Central Bank of Nigeria Anchor Borrower has improved cotton business in the country.
Ado made this known in Gombe, during an interview with our correspondent, adding that farmers were happy about the intervention of the federal government.
He explained the challenge of herders encroachment into their farms destroying cotton farms, while urging the government to arrest the situation, the Vice Chairman, stressed that as reason some of them are grappling with repaying their loans.
Ado said, “The intervention of FG through CBN, Anchor Borrowers programme cotton farming in Nigeria will increase, especially in Gombe State. I want to commend the CBN for the programme and I wish to call on farmers to know that the loans given to them are payable, for those that are not going to pay back. Let change their mind because others are starting to pay back.
“The value chain of cotton in the market now is increasing because farmers are happy with the federal government intervention and they are able to pay back the loan offered from the anchor borrower programme.”
He added that in the past farmers were not able to pay their loans. “Very few can pay half, some even paid ten per cent, but now farmers can pay up to hundred per cent,” Ado said.
While commenting on how the government has revived some ginnery, he stressed that they were revived for them to continue processing cotton, thereby, making it easier for the producers or marketers to deal with instead of taking it far away.
Speaking further Ado, commended Gombe State Ministry of Agriculture and Animal husbandry for providing seeds and herbicides for members.
According to him, “The cotton that are farmed in Gombe are better cotton than others, because the seed is the number one. It was produced by experts in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.”
