The Edo State government has screened and registered no fewer than 50,000 farmers for the Central Bank of Nigeria loan in the 2016 cropping season.

Mr Abubakar Sule, Edo North Zonal Manager, Edo Agricultural Development Programme, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria Auchi on Friday.

Sule said out of the 50,000 farmers, 25,000 were from Edo South, 10,000, Edo Central, while 15,000 were from Edo North.

He said the CBN loan was being facilitated by the state government, adding that the individual farmers needed to belong to a cooperative society to be a beneficiary.

He said that farmers, who grow Maize, Rice, Cassava, Oil Palm and livestock such as poultry, piggery and fishery would benefit from the facility.

Sule said that the gesture was the state government’s way of assisting farmers to boost food production in the state.

He said the state government had trained its extension service workers on how to guide the farmers to reduce risk and enhance farm yields.