A day out with Kebbi’s Queen of sorghum farmers

In the farming circle in Kebbi State, she is fondly called Sarauniyar Manoma (Queen of farming). During the last farming season, Hajiya Kulu Abdullahi, produced 781 bags of Sorghum from two of the expansive farms she inherited from her late father in Wasagu area of Kebbi  State. Because of the exploit and feat she recorded […]

In the farming circle in Kebbi State, she is fondly called Sarauniyar Manoma (Queen of farming). During the last farming season, Hajiya Kulu Abdullahi, produced 781 bags of Sorghum from two of the expansive farms she inherited from her late father in Wasagu area of Kebbi  State. Because of the exploit and feat she recorded in sorghum production in the last farming season, she received the best sorghum producer award from the state government this year.

Her father, Alhaji Ali Namani Kotoko was the Sarkin Noma (King of farmers) in Nigeria before he died in 2014. Barely three years after Hajiya Kulu ventured into farming which brought her father fame and recognition, she had become the largest producer of sorghum in the 21 local government areas of Kebbi State.  

The farming amazon has over 500 hectares of farmland from her late father at Kurumashi village, along Bena -Wasagu road. There are over 71 farm settlements scattered within it with 400 farmers cultivating and tilling the expansive farmland to earn a living on daily basis. Narrating how she ventured into farming, she said “When my father died in 2014, I resolved to immortalize him by going into farming. I started with sorghum in 2014 and that year, I planted late and the output was very low but I was not discouraged. I made up my mind to learn from the mistake I made. My brother who was my farm manager advised me not to go into it again because of the poor harvest but I made a remarkable improvement that year. I made more than twice what I made in the first farming season. The third year was even better than the second year. In the fourth year which was 2017, I achieved more than five times of what I produced in the first, second and third years. First, my passion for farming is to immortalize my late father. Secondly, I was moved by the policy of the federal government to diversify the nation’s economy through agriculture. I see agriculture as an economic venture that I can retire to. It is a business that is permitted by the civil service rule, so I see it as a means to augment my income. I realize it was not easy when starting something new because one will be faced with many challenges, so I got more information on the production and other challenges that are associated with sorghum production and I studied the government policies to make things work the way it worked for me. As a child, I was, to some extent, involved in some farming and agricultural activities particularly planting and harvesting. Though I spent a lot of time in school but I used to invest my money in the agricultural economy such as buying and selling. I was not fully involved in the actual production because my late father who was the Sarkin Noma in the country discouraged me from farming. Despite his passion for agriculture, he was not happy with some government policies on agriculture and he felt I would not enjoy farming”.

However, she said her success story in sorghum production started when she visited Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Agriculture Extension Research Centre in Zaria to get some improved and water resistant seeds.  “I improve the fertility of the farm by using chicken manure and I adopted new practices to improve my planting population and increased my yield. One of my farms, 20 hectares that gave me a yield of 291 bags of sorghum in 2016 gave me a yield of 781 bags in 2017 farming season.

I was really delighted. In fact when I received the phone call to inform me of government award as the best sorghum producer I find it difficult to believe. I was wondering if there were no other people who did better than me. I was happy and I felt as if my late father was back. I realized I am not there yet there is still so much work for me to do. I could realize much more than I realized in sorghum and other crops such as rice, soya beans and maize. My target in this year’s farming season was to produce 3,000 bags of sorghum. I know there will be challenges but it won’t stop me from achieving that target. I know there are challenges of funding, inputs and others but I will overcome them.  I am impressed by some government policies on agriculture but there is still a lot to be done. I am sure my father in his grave will be proud of me today. He might not be surprised about what I had achieved because he brought us up as very hardworking and united family. He won Nigeria’s best farmer award during the agricultural show that was held in Benin in 1982. The former Senate President, Joseph Wayas presented the trophy to him and he remained the Sarkin Noma (King of farmers) of Nigeria till he died in 2014”. 

Hajiya Kulu appealed to the state government to support farmers. “In agriculture the peasant and large scale farmers are the stakeholders. What the peasant farmers gets in terms of funding and input is too meager. They needed fertilizer but they only got more NPK and less of urea that is much more expensive last year. These days, there are so many small modern farming tools that the farmers could make use of with less energy and only government can supply them with such tools to improve on their yield. The farmers also need credit facilities they can easily accessed and improved seeds that can give them high yields. They also need tractors, threshing machines, pesticides and insecticides. Government should also help to organize markets for their agriculture products so that they can sell at profitable prices. Labour is a hidden cost. It cost so much. If there is planter, a farmer can plant his crop with precision with adequate plant population to give better harvest. One of the major challenges at the farm is poor access roads. At my farm, which is 500 hectares, accessibility is a problem. It is difficult accessing the over 71 farm settlements there. Government needs to clear the area and make the settlements accessible and make it easier for them to their produce to the markets because bad roads sometimes cause wastage to the farmers”.