The Katsina State government has pledged to assist farmers in the state to acquire about 1000 tractors in the next three years to make farming fully mechanised in the state.
The special adviser to the governor on Agriculture, Dr Abba Abdullahi, stated this when the deputy governor and Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Mannir Abdullahi, inspected the first tranche of 50 tractors under Katsina Mahindra Agricultural Intervention Programme that have arrived in Katsina.
Abdullahi said the state required no fewer than 1000 tractors to achieve its vision. He also expressed the determination of the Governor Aminu Bello Masari administration to hit the target before 2019.
He added that Mahindra, the Indian firm supplying the tractors, would set up an assembly plant in the state as part of its efforts to boost the job opportunities for Katsina youths.
Deputy governor, Mannir Yakubu, described the restoration agenda of the present administration in agriculture as a bold step to improve the sector through mechanized farming at the grassroots.
Yakubu assured that the tractors would be given on hire basis to the farmers through the state Tractors Owners and Operators Association at a subsidized rate as part of the interventions to improve agricultural activities and income of the populace.
He disclosed that the state government would also continue procure and distribute other farm inputs to farmers at subsidised rates because agriculture is the mainstay of the majority in the state.