‘A lot of people in Gombe live on their agricultural produce’

Irrigation of dry season groundnut seems to be alien in this area, how did you start it?I remember there was a time we planted some seeds of groundnut by the river bank and it germinated. That was a long time ago. Since then I have been wondering why people do not cultivate groundnut during dry […]

Irrigation of dry season groundnut seems to be alien in this area, how did you start it?
I remember there was a time we planted some seeds of groundnut by the river bank and it germinated. That was a long time ago. Since then I have been wondering why people do not cultivate groundnut during dry season. I then decided to irrigate ground nut on a hectare farmland here in the school and when the yield was fantastic, I expanded the farm. But before planting it here, after observing that the one we planted by the river bank was good, it was in my village, Gwani, that I first planted it. Cultivating ground nut under irrigation is very easy and you record high yield. You will water the farm once after every ten days. I started irrigating groundnut in commercial quantity about five years ago. So many farmers when they hear of it they came around to see and asked me questions.
This is a vocational centre where you teach your students trades, has your school keyed into the Federal Government’s programme on school agriculture?
Nobody came here to initiate us into the programme, even though we have heard of it in the media. However, we have a school farmland where our students are taught new farming techniques. We have orchards with hundreds of mango trees and a big ground nut irrigation farm taken care of by the students. They do all their practical agricultural lessons in the farmland. That is in addition to building, carpentry, and electricity and others taught in the school. We produce potential employers of labour here and not employees. The school authority has sunk a borehole for irrigation purpose.
How do you access fertiliser?
Government is assisting us with that, though we require more. In this ecology, our irrigated farms do not even require fertilizer, though other crops need.
What about cabbage?
I have a big cabbage farm outside the school. But when we wanted to teach the students how to cultivate cabbage, we planted in the school area along with them. We planted a hectare of cabbage in the school and we had very good yield. In this ecology, Gloria F1 variety of cabbage is the best for us. It is a high breed variety. At harvest, you find it very big in size. We always go for the best here and that is why a lot of us in this state live on our agricultural produce.
You are well known in the cultivation of asparagus which is not very popular in the country. Is it a money spinner as well?
When you are starting it for the first time you will spend a lot to source for the seeds or seedlings. Thereafter, you will find it as a way of making a lot of money when you start producing your seeds and seedlings in the farm. From the leaves alone, you will be making what will cover the entire expenses incurred. The leaves are used for several herbs.
You are here producing asparagus in your farm while Nigeria is importing asparagus products into the country, why is it so?
What we are producing is not enough to meet the demand of Nigerians. It is only in Jos and some parts of North-east Zone that I know we are producing it. But nobody that has access to fresh asparagus will go for the imported one. We are supplying some big stores in Abuja with fresh asparagus and the demand is high. We have difficulty trying to meet up with the demand even though we are trying also to reach some stores in Port Harcourt and Lagos. People may not understand the value of asparagus until they see for themselves. We have also started processing it in powder form. Very soon, we shall start producing pickle asparagus. It is asparagus stem in a boiled and process asparagus water that can preserve the stem for over a year and it still look fresh. We are planning to start exporting it soon because the demand is so high abroad. Here in Nigeria we can produce it in both seasons.
I have also seen a large banana plantation, how is the yield like here?
We cultivate banana a lot here. We do not apply fertiliser to it except manure. It produces big and sweet fruits. Most farmers are into banana plantation here but we only sell to local consumers and nearby markets.
I was told that you produce a lot of rice in Dadin Kowa but I have not seen any rice plantation since I came, what is happening?
Yes, you came when we have finished harvest. We do double rice cropping here but that of irrigation is always better than that of wet season. Here, we mostly plant our irrigation rice in February. Between the end of the rainy season and February when we will plant our rice, what we do is to plant maize, okra and vegetables. We plant a lot of rice here because rice yield is always fantastic. We process most of our rice here locally.   
I have realised that the farmlands at this irrigation site are divided into two, why?
The other side that we call project was taken over by Gombe during the old Bauchi State, from the original owners with a view to enhancing agricultural activities. That was when government was participating directly in farming. In those days, government was into mass production of rice and maize in the area, using sprinklers. When the project collapsed and government withdrew from farming, some people sunk boreholes and commenced irrigation farming, even though the dam has some malfunctions. We pay for the water we are using to irrigate our farms, except for farmers that are using their boreholes. They charge for every hectare N4,000. We have problem of diesel to power the engine pumping the water. But you can see that they have installed solar energy equipment as alternative source of power. The demand for money for maintenance will now reduce. The engine is to be drawing water from the river and pump to the water channels that will supply to the farms. At the second side of the farms owned by individuals, that is where farmers use boreholes to irrigate their farms. The channels pumping water from the river also ran through their farms.
I understand your dam has not been functioning, then where is this water coming from?
Yes, the dam is not functioning. It cannot discharge or control the flow of water from it. I do not really know how water is coming out of the dam flowing through this river.
Do you have any agricultural produce processing industry in this area?
Since the Vegfru processing industry here at Dadin Kowa collapsed over 20 years ago, we have not had any. We do not even have a rice mill around here or any other industry.

By Shehu Abubakar, who was in Gombe

Irrigation of dry season groundnut seems to be alien in this area, how did you start it?
I remember there was a time we planted some seeds of groundnut by the river bank and it germinated. That was a long time ago. Since then I have been wondering why people do not cultivate groundnut during dry season. I then decided to irrigate ground nut on a hectare farmland here in the school and when the yield was fantastic, I expanded the farm. But before planting it here, after observing that the one we planted by the river bank was good, it was in my village, Gwani, that I first planted it. Cultivating ground nut under irrigation is very easy and you record high yield. You will water the farm once after every ten days. I started irrigating groundnut in commercial quantity about five years ago. So many farmers when they hear of it they came around to see and asked me questions.
This is a vocational centre where you teach your students trades, has your school keyed into the Federal Government’s programme on school agriculture?
Nobody came here to initiate us into the programme, even though we have heard of it in the media. However, we have a school farmland where our students are taught new farming techniques. We have orchards with hundreds of mango trees and a big ground nut irrigation farm taken care of by the students. They do all their practical agricultural lessons in the farmland. That is in addition to building, carpentry, and electricity and others taught in the school. We produce potential employers of labour here and not employees. The school authority has sunk a borehole for irrigation purpose.
How do you access fertiliser?
Government is assisting us with that, though we require more. In this ecology, our irrigated farms do not even require fertilizer, though other crops need.
What about cabbage?
I have a big cabbage farm outside the school. But when we wanted to teach the students how to cultivate cabbage, we planted in the school area along with them. We planted a hectare of cabbage in the school and we had very good yield. In this ecology, Gloria F1 variety of cabbage is the best for us. It is a high breed variety. At harvest, you find it very big in size. We always go for the best here and that is why a lot of us in this state live on our agricultural produce.
You are well known in the cultivation of asparagus which is not very popular in the country. Is it a money spinner as well?
When you are starting it for the first time you will spend a lot to source for the seeds or seedlings. Thereafter, you will find it as a way of making a lot of money when you start producing your seeds and seedlings in the farm. From the leaves alone, you will be making what will cover the entire expenses incurred. The leaves are used for several herbs.
You are here producing asparagus in your farm while Nigeria is importing asparagus products into the country, why is it so?
What we are producing is not enough to meet the demand of Nigerians. It is only in Jos and some parts of North-east Zone that I know we are producing it. But nobody that has access to fresh asparagus will go for the imported one. We are supplying some big stores in Abuja with fresh asparagus and the demand is high. We have difficulty trying to meet up with the demand even though we are trying also to reach some stores in Port Harcourt and Lagos. People may not understand the value of asparagus until they see for themselves. We have also started processing it in powder form. Very soon, we shall start producing pickle asparagus. It is asparagus stem in a boiled and process asparagus water that can preserve the stem for over a year and it still look fresh. We are planning to start exporting it soon because the demand is so high abroad. Here in Nigeria we can produce it in both seasons.
I have also seen a large banana plantation, how is the yield like here?
We cultivate banana a lot here. We do not apply fertiliser to it except manure. It produces big and sweet fruits. Most farmers are into banana plantation here but we only sell to local consumers and nearby markets.
I was told that you produce a lot of rice in Dadin Kowa but I have not seen any rice plantation since I came, what is happening?
Yes, you came when we have finished harvest. We do double rice cropping here but that of irrigation is always better than that of wet season. Here, we mostly plant our irrigation rice in February. Between the end of