About three million tonnes of rice will be harvested by Kano State this year, Deputy Governor Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, has said.

Gawuna made this known to journalists while taking stock of achievements of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The deputy governor, who oversees the ministry, said the state has been recording huge increase in rice and other grains’ harvests since 2015.

According to him, despite enormous challenges affecting agricultural development, in terms of mechanisation and technology, the Ganduje administration has reduced rice import, thereby saving billions of naira yearly.

“From the time His Excellency Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje assumed office in 2015, there is significant increase every year in whatever we harvest in the state.

Gawuna cited an instatnce , “For example, in 2015, we harvested about 690,000 tonnes of rice, in 2016, we harvested 1.5 million tones,  in 2017 we harvested over two million tonnes of rice and, definitely, this year, we are far ahead of what we have done in 2017, harvesting to about three million tonnes of rice” he said.

Various efforts, he said, were being made to produce qualitative and affordable fertilizer by reviving the state Agricultural Supply Company (KASCO), which suffered neglect during the previous administrations.