The Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program Phase 1 (ATASP-01) is to construct 80km coat dress and lateritic roads in Kano and Jigawa states with a view to improving access to farms in the two states.
The National Program Coordinator of the scheme, Malam Ibrahim Muhammad Arabi, who made the disclosure, said project was aimed at improving agribusiness activities and ensure farmer’s easy access to markets.
Arabi explained that ATASP would also construct and rehabilitate 2, 411 hectares surface irrigation schemes in the two benefiting states.
He said the program had introduced new technologies that would assist farmers by creating jobs and wealth generation methods along the value chains that would enhance food security not only in the two states, but in the entire nation.
“In our bid to assist farmers in the zone, we have distributed improved seeds of Rice, Sorghum and Cassava; by doing this we have recorded an improved food production in the zone, that is why ATASP is now making a provision through which this improved food production can easily be taken to markets. We will soon rehabilitate the farmers’ sources of water to boost their productivity,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the participating constructing companies, Engineer Habibu Salihi expressed satisfaction on the processes adopted by ATASP, describing the whole bidding processes as fair and transparent.
