The National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) has flagged off recovery of a N6.4 billion loan disbursed to cotton farmers in the North East by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through its Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP).
Speaking during the flag off in Gombe, the President of NACOTAN, Mr Anibe Achimugu, said cotton farmers in the geo-political zone were provided with the money by the CBN at the onset of the rainy season for cotton farming.
He said the intervention by was to enable the farmers embark on massive cotton production, in an effort to boost Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) industries in the country.
He further said the farmers were expected to provide 136, 000 metric tons of cotton for the 2020 wet season based on 1.5 metric tons per hectare for onward delivery to the CBN.
The president said through the ABP, CTG industries in the country where revived and had started generating employment for the teeming unemployed youths.
The National Vice President of NACOTAN, Alhaji Musa Yahaya, said 28,000 farmers in the North East were expected to produce 1,000 tons of cotton each at the end of the farming season.
“The N6.4bn allocated to the three states in the North East is to strengthen 28,000 members of NACOTAN across Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba states,” Yahaya said.
The vice president added that the intervention programme had encouraged cotton farmers in the three states and created jobs for thousands of youths, as well as resuscitated cotton ginneries in the three states.
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