The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission has decried prevalent fraudulent practices in the state’s rice production value chain under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).

Chairman of the Commission, Barr. Muhuyi Rimin Gado, noted that the N10 billion ABP fund meant for the farmers at the grassroots level was diverted and only a few farmers benefited from it.

Gado made this disclosure after a meeting with the leadership of Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN), Kano State Chapter, News Agency of Nigeria reports.

The chairman noted that some corrupt people within the value chain disbursed the fund to fake farmers – a development he said was responsible for the poor rate of ABP loan recovery in the state.

Gado said, “I want to use this medium to call on farmers, especially those who benefited from the scheme, to understand that the Anchor Borrower Programme is not a free package but a loan scheme

“Therefore, I want to appeal to our farmers not to see the Anchor Borrower Programme as a gift, although it appeared to be. They must be ready to pay back in paddy.”

Gado also called on the Federal Government to checkmate the corrupt practices among rice production actors in the country.

He assured that the anti-corruption body was doing everything possible to ensure that stolen resources were recovered and returned.

Also speaking after the meeting, Gado decried the scarcity of rice in the state.

While Gado attributed the scarcity of paddy rice to fraud, state chairman of RIPAN, Alhaji Imran Amin, said the increase was a result of the surge in the price of paddy from N160,000 to N195,000 per tonne.

Amin, therefore, urged the Federal Government to provide land to the millers to enable them to be directly involved in rice production.

The state chairman also called for the efficient utilisation of resources channelled into paddy production.

“We are appealing to the government to give us land and loans so that we can produce good quantities and quality of paddy. And chances of loan recovery is 100 percent,” he said.

SOURCE: AGRONIGERIA