PCNI Reach out to Farmers with Free Fertilizer in Northeast
Alkasim Abdulkadir, Abuja: On Monday the 23rd of July, the Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNI) commenced the distribution of fertiliser to farmers in 101 wards of 9 local government areas in the Southern Borno Senatorial District.
At a ceremony marking the commencement of the exercise in Jauro Shehu village of Bayo Local Government Area in Borno, Senator Ali Ndume, who represents the senatorial district, said that 20 trailer loads of fertiliser would be distributed.
According to him, each of the nine local government areas will get two trailers and certain allocation will go to youth, women, as well as village and district heads. He said that 10 trailers had arrived at the venue of distribution while the remaining 10 trailers would arrive later.
Mr. Ndume, who is also a member of PCNI, said the distribution would be monitored by the Monitoring and Evaluation unit of PCNI, to ensure that the commodity reached the grassroots.
“We have a template for distribution and we are going to follow it to ensure that every allocation reaches the grassroots,” he said. Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), Chairman of PCNI, who was represented by Professor Hauwa Biu, another PCNI member, said that Southern Borno was considered first because most of the people of the area are farmers, hence the need for the distribution on time.
He also stressed that most of the people in the zone, who had been displaced as a result of insurgency, have now returned home to start life afresh, and that the PCNI is committed to supporting them as they rebuild their lives and livelihoods.
Mr Danjuma also insisted that women be given an equal share with men because they are equally farmers. The chairman said that other parts of the region would also benefit from the exercise, appealing to the beneficiaries to make judicious use of it.
He said that Southern Borno people are predominantly farmers who produce food for other parts of the country. Also speaking, Dr Sidi Ali-Mohammed Sidi, the Head of Department, Humanitarian Service, PCNI, said that PCNI is committed to tackling food security in the North-East by first addressing the challenges impeding farming in the traditionally agrarian region.
