Perhaps, it was based on this background that the present administration under President Muhammadu Buhari created this Programme (RABP) in order to boost the economy and tackle unemployment. It was kickstarted in thirteen states. Flagging off the programme in Kebbi State, the president appointed Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of the state as chairman of the presidential taskforce on rice and wheat production.
Rice Anchor Borrowers Programme (RABP) is a federal government project under the supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with Kebbi State government and twelve other benefitting states.
It was launched in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State by President Muhammed Buhari on November 17, 2015.
The federal government invested over N700 billion as loan which Kebbi State got N50 billion. Governor Bagudu on receiving the sum, swam into action by disbursing N2.1 billion on the procurement of fertilizers, N180 million on the procurement of water pumping machines and N400 million for the procurement of seeds for distribution to about 70,000 targeted farmers.
The funds were disbursed by government officials and leadership of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RFAN), Kebbi State chapter. The sharing formula of the funds shows that the first group consists of 40,000; two bags of seedlings and fertilizers and one pair of pumping machines were received each by benefiting farmers as the first segment of the programme under dry season farming.
The second group of farmers were about 150,000 who got four bags of seedlings and fertilizers and two pumping machines. On receiving this farm inputs, the benefiting farmers swam into action which within three and a half months, most farmlands in Kebbi State became green. Everywhere one looks is green, showing that the state government is expected to record success in the programme.
According to some farmers, the programme started with hiccups, particularly quelea birds and other natural disasters being the first time but the government later solved the problems.
Governor Bagudu was said to have injected over N61 billion in the control of pest and quelea birds in farms across the state.
RABP is under the control of the central bank governor, Godwin Emefiele and the minister of Agriculture; who, in their effort to ensure the effectiveness of the implementation of the programme in the state, have been visiting Kebbi State from time to time talking with farmers in company of Governor Bagudu.
Now the programme has recorded huge success as the farmers are set to harvest about one million metric tonnes of both rice and wheat as expected by the Central Bank of Nigeria as contained in their agreement during the flagging off of the programme in the state in November last year.
Governor Bagudu who took journalists round on Saturday, Sunday and Monday last week to ‘Rice Farm Areas’ at Augie, Argungu, Birnin Kebbi, Bunza, Dandi, Suru, Zuru and Bena. Farmers had told reporters earlier in the year that they were expecting to harvest about one million metric tonnes of rice and wheat before the end of the year.
A farmer, Mallam Abubakar Kwaido in Augie local government stated that the programme is a welcome development to both government and rice farmers in the state. According to him, the programme has boosted the agricultural sector and promoted employment in the state.
Chairman of RIFAN, Kebbi State chapter, Alhaji Sahabi Augie expressed his appreciation towards the programme and also called on farmers in the state to always support government programmes that assist the lives of the common man at the grassroot.
He stated that RIFAN would make sure that it repaid loans it received from the CBN under the programme.
Speaking with journalists in Zuru after the visit by a combined team of correspondents, deputy governor of Kebbi State, Col. Samaila Dabai Yombe assured the federal government that the one million metric tonnes of rice and wheat would be produced by farmers of the state as expected under the RABP programme.
He urged farmers in the state to hasten efforts in harvesting their products so that they could be given a chance for the take-off of the second segment of the programme.
According to him, the programme has forced prices of rice and other crops to plummet drastically in the markets.
