The Bauchi State Fadama III project has disbursed more than N313 million to 97 Fadama community associations in four years, an official said.

The state's coordinator of the project, Dr Ali Garba, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Bauchi, said that the amount would multiply projects currently ongoing within the benefiting communities.

"We have disbursed N313, 023, 314. 78 to 97 Fadama associations in the state in various categories; for example pilot assets, grinding machines to a group, we have disbursed N159, 118, 749.59.

"Now, under infrastructure provision, where we built culverts, rehabilitated roads, built market stores for communities and things like that, we have disbursed N89, 796, 475.89.

"We have another project under the Fadama project that we call Sustainable Land Management (SLM), it is aimed at safeguarding the environment in our country; for that one, we have disbursed N10, 295, 018."

Garba said the SLM programme was concentrated in most of the northern parts of the state with a history of devastation by natural disasters such as desert encroachment and erosion.

"Mostly, you see the excellence of SLM in the northern zone of the state where you don't see trees at all, now you see hectares of land severally with their small shrubs, orchards as seedlings coming up.

"And in the next two or three years you will start harvesting and benefitting from such; while at the same time these orchards are servicing the communities as wind breaks.

"Despite the erosion that bedevilled our northern zone, with these orchards, you will see that those areas are becoming green.

"Now we have input support scheme, where we have disbursed fertilizer, seeds, and chemicals to our farmers depending on what they ask for, which is N8, 112,701.