15,000 cassava farmers have reportedly benefited from the N375m loan facility provided by the Bank of Agriculture to boost cassava production in Adamawa State.

Chairman, Borno Cassava Farmers Cooperative Union, Alhaji Lawal Umara, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Maiduguri.

Umara said that the farmers who received N250,000 each were drawn from the 27 local government areas of the state.

He said the initiative was part of government’s effort to enhance cassava production for local consumption and for export.

He expressed his confidence in the ability of the intiative to ensure food security in the state and the country in general.

Umara said cassava farmers in the state also received about 10,000 bundles of cassava seedlings under the Federal Government’s Agricultural Enhancement Programme to enable them improve on their yield.

He said that the association also secured 100 hectares of farm in each of the 27 local government areas for cassava farmers.

Umara also revealed plans for the training of women farmers who lost their farm lands; he said “Plans are also underway to train 2,700 women farmers who lost their farmlands due to the activities of insurgents in some local government areas.

“The women would be trained on how to make biscuits, bread, cakes, doughnuts, pies, rolls and chin-chin, among items,” he said.