Kwara — Kwara State Commissioner of Agriculture, Professor Gana Yisa, has said Zimbabwean commercial farmers operating in Shonga, Edu Local Government Area of the state, will soon establish a N400-million dairy factory

Yisa said in Ilorin yesterday, that the factory would produce about four million litres of milk annually and would so on be completed, while production will start early 2008.

He said the state government has awarded a N200-million electricity contract for the connection of Shonga Village to the national grid.

Yisa said about 900 specially bred dairy cows would be imported from South Africa for the purpose.

According to him, the factory would produce cheese for export, while some of the 13 farmers would soon set up poultryfarms. "The farmers intend to produce two million broilers per annum once thepoultry farms are in place," he said, adding that soya bean crop would be used for poultry feed.The farmers had cultivated about 5,000 hectares of farmland with a variety of crops, including maize, rice, soya bean and cassava. "As a matter of fact, each of them has 320 hectares of cassava with an estimated yield of 60,000 tonnes per hectare," Yisa said, adding that a flour producing company from Benue had placed order for the cassava.

The commissioner said when completed, the cargo shed at the Ilorin International Airport now under construction, would be used to store produce from the farms.

Prof Gana Yisa, said the electricity project would enable the farmers to have access to electricity, the lack of which he noted,was a major problem. According to him, contractors are now on site installing electricity transformers."In a couple of months, the commercial farms will be linked to the national grid.You cannot use diesel to run a factory,"Yisa said, pointing out that the farmershad been using generators. He observed that infrastructure wasspringing up in Shonga due to thepresence of the white farmers now called "new Nigerian farmers" by the state government. On employment opportunities, Yisa said that some 3,000 persons from Shonga area were now employed both as casual and permanent workers. Investigations , showed that only 100 of the workers were on permanent employment, while the rest were casual workers hired during harvest. Meanwhile, Alhaji Amuda Kannike, theSpecial Assistant to the Governor onAgriculture, in August disclosed that five Nigerian banks had assisted the farmers with a total of N2.5 billion. The banks according to him are: Intercontinental Bank, First InlandBank, Bank PHB, Guarantee TrustBank and First Bank.