Cross River State governor, Prof Ben Ayade is planning to establish a Proper Professional Food Bank as a steady market for farmers across the local government areas in the state.

Governor Ayade is optimistic that agriculture can go a long way to strengthening Nigeria’s Economy which at the moment is in recession.

The governor, who announced the plan on Saturday, said the Proper Professional Food Bank would be responsive for granting a steady market for farmers to sell their produce as they are cultivating.

He spoke at the CBN-CRSG Anchor Borrowers’ Programme for Rice Value Chain held at Odukpani Local Government Area of the State.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers’ Program is a Scheme set up by the President to lift thousands of small farmers out of poverty and in turn generate millions of jobs for unemployed Nigerians.

Mr Ayade at the occasion commended President Muhammadu Buhari for providing an agricultural mechanised centre to provide industrialised support for farming.

According to him, this initiative he believes, will guarantee a steady income, agricultural exchange centre for the Council, State and Nigeria in extension, just as his administration intends to set up a food bank across the 18 local government areas of the State.

Governor Ayade assured the beneficiaries and farmers across the state of government’s support from the point of equipment, factory support, machineries and all the factorisation they require.

A representative of the CBN Governor, Graham Kalio, urged the beneficiaries to keep faith with the roadmap, plan and vision of the scheme in order to achieve a Nigeria where the importation of rice and other foodstuffs would be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile the State’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Anthony Eneji, said that the government had identified a rice yield that would guarantee 24 tons per hectare.