The Nigerian state of Kwara is to invite more Zimbabwean white farmers to come and farm its land, boosting an existing agricultural programme, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported on Wednesday.
The state said it would welcome more farmers for the programme, in which 13 white farmers began farming 1 500 hectares of land under a deal with the Kwara government in 2004.
The first group of farmers began work at Shonga, 110km north of Ilorin, the state capital in the east of the country, and harvested their first crops of maize and soya beans this year.
State Agriculture Commissioner Saka Onimago was quoted as saying that the activities of the white farmers had brought a lot of economic development to the state.
The idea of bringing in Zimbabwean farmers is attracting strong interest in the state, he said.
“The project is becoming more interesting as it has changed the perception of most traditional farmers about mechanised farming,” he added.
He added that the commercial farmers were being wooed by other states in Nigeria because of their skills and expertise in mechanised farming.
He said plans were also under way to acquire 20 000 hectares of farmland in another area of the state to boost food and agricultural production.
The Zimbabweans came to Nigeria following a controversial land reform policy of their southern African country’s President Robert Mugabe, which seized prime land owned by the white farmers and. allegedly, redistributed it to poor black people.