The Federal Government has granted N6.4 billion loan to farmers in Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba states. The loan was aimed at boosting cotton production during the rainy season.

The President, National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), Mr Anibe Achimugu, who revealed this on Monday in a chat with reporters in Gombe said the loan was provided through the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Achimugu said with the loan, the cotton farmers were expected to provide 136, 000 metric tons of cotton for last year’s wet season based on 1.5 metric tons per hectare, for onward delivery to the CBN.

He said the intervention by the apex bank was to enable the farmers to embark on massive cotton production, in an effort to boost cotton, textile and garment industries.

“Already a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with the military and para-military agencies to produce their uniforms from the local textiles industries, thereby boosting the country’s economy,” he said.

He added that the association has already commenced the loan recovery process from the cotton farmers in the three Northeast states.

The President said through the CBN’s anchor borrowers programme, CTG industries were revived and have started generating employment for the teeming youths.

The National Vice-President of NACOTAN, Alhaji Musa Yahaya, said 28, 000 farmers in the Northeast is expected to produce 1,000 tons of cotton each at the end of the farming season.

“The N6.4 billion allocated to the three states in the Northeast is to strengthen 28,000 members of NACOTAN across Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba states,” Yahaya said.

The Vice-President added that the intervention programme by the CBN has encouraged cotton farmers in the three states, even as it has created jobs for thousands of youths as well as resuscitated cotton ginneries in the three states.