By Princewill Ekwujuru

For agriculture development, British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) has given out tractors  to farmers as part of its 8th annual British American Tobacco Iseyin Agronomy  (BATIA) Farmers Productivity Awards Scheme,  as  209 farmers get rewarded.

The Farmers’ Productivity Awards Scheme is an initiative of British American Tobacco Iseyin Agronomy, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco Nigeria designed to improve the farmers’ productivity in terms of quality and volume of yield, as well as encourage their adherence to principles of environmental protection.

Provisions of the program to farmers include technical support, farming inputs, environment management, fair pricing through transparent and assured negotiations, socio-economic development and alternative sources of income through crop rotation which allows the farmers to plant other food crops have been in place since 2005.

In his remarks, the Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Director, BATN, Freddy Messanvi, commended efforts at various levels of government in Nigeria towards transforming the agriculture sector, which he said will impact positively on the country in the near future.

His words: “We applaud the Federal, State and Local government for the bold steps they have taken in transforming the agriculture sector. We know that forward thinking policies from our leaders  need active support from the private sector and l see that happening rapidly.”

Speaking at the awards ceremony, the Vice-Chairman Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Sefiu Adegbenga Kaka stressed the need for stakeholders in the sector to be more committed to food and cash crop production to alleviate hunger. He urged the recipients of the awards to reciprocate the kind gesture of the BATN / BATIA by making use of the equipment’s given to them, to boost efficiency in production.

The Operations Director, BATN, Francisco Toso in his welcome address stated the purpose of the awards: “The aim of the award is to drive a sustainable program which recognises not only productivity with respect to increased yield but most importantly environmental management as key criteria for participation”.

One of the winners, Alhaji Hassan Afonja praised BATIA for their continuous support to farmers through the rewards scheme.