Kano has highest Allocation for Agriculture

The 13 per cent allocation to agriculture in the 2009 Kano state budgetary proposal remains the highest so far in the country. The state commissioner of agriculture and natural resources, Alhaji Musa Sulaiman Shanono disclosed this at the 2009 Annual Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop in Kano saying that

 as a result of the state government’s intervention, crop production has increased from 1.6 million tonnes in 2003 to 4.2 million tonnes in 2008, adding that rice production during the period also increased from 79,000 metric tonnes in 2003 to 215,000 metric tonnes in 2003/2008.

 

According to him, the state government has been paying serious attention to documentation and publication of the activities of government in a scale that is unprecedented, stressing that the effort was born out of government’s appreciation of the strategic importance of intimate decision-making, policy and planning.

 

He, however, revealed that from 2003 to date, the state government has disbursed more than N4 billion as intervention fund to various farmers associations across the 44 local governments in the state, saying as custodians of the farmers they have a vital role to play.

 

The commissioner stated that the state government has been supporting agriculture in order to enhance food security in the state and the nation at large, increase employment and reduce poverty under the Special Mass Food Production programme.