Bumper harvest for Kano, Kaduna maize farmers

Despite hurdles faced by farmers in Kano State this year, most of the farmers, especially those that farm maize and millet are recording bumper harvest. A visit to Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of the state revealed that farmers in the area are optimistic that there is going to be a bumper harvest in millet. […]

Despite hurdles faced by farmers in Kano State this year, most of the farmers, especially those that farm maize and millet are recording bumper harvest.
A visit to Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of the state revealed that farmers in the area are optimistic that there is going to be a bumper harvest in millet.
Malam Usman Balarabe Dawaki, said despite the absence of affordable fertilizer which made them resort to the use of manure, indications have shown that there is going to be a very good result in the farms.
“From all indications, we are going to have a bumper harvest this year, especially in millet and sorghum despite the various challenges we faced in terms of accessing fertilizer and other vital inputs. I believe this is as a result of the volume of rains experienced this year. The high cost of fertiliser is one of the challenges I can say initially made us to seek for alternatives, a bag of urea was sold at the cost of N12,000 in the open market and later the price dropped to about N7,500 now, when it became obvious that we have no much business with it,” said Dawaki.
However, it was gathered that many farmers have started harvesting, their millet and its price has been dropping in the markets in Dawakin Tofa.
A grain businessman in the area, Abdu Bono, stated that prices of millet and other farm produces have been going down as a result of the harvesting season.
He added that the price of millet has dropped with about 45% so far, adding that due to the expected bumper harvest, prices of farm produce are expected to crash further.
Similarly, at Bunkure Local Government Area of Kano, despite the difficulties experienced in accessing farming inputs, maize farmers in the area are optimistic of recording a bumper harvest this year.
 It was also gathered that in this part of the state and other local government areas popular for maize production, maize farming was impressive this year, making the farmers to be hopeful of bumper harvest.
Similarly, farmers, who planted maize earlier in Kaduna State are recording bumper harvest and are already counting profit because of the demand for the crop, Daily Trust reports. 
When our correspondent visited the Kawo miaze market in Kaduna, a truck load of fresh maize had just arrived from the farm, as customers besieged the truck demanding to be attended to by the maize seller.
Woman and children were seen shouting, struggling to pay the maize seller seated on top on the truck and counting three pieces of fresh maize for N100. 
Speaking with our correspondent, the owner of the truck, a man in his 30s, Muhammad Bello, said “Me and my other colleagues spent about N30,000 on five hectares of land located in Malalin Gabas to plant corn. Today, we are happy because we are ripping the benefit of our labour, at least, I expect that we will make a profit of over N100,000 by the time we finish harvesting all the corn from our farms because this is not all.  
A farmer in Danbushi now known as Millennium city, Abdullahi Yahaya, who has been farming for the past 35 years, said for each hectare of land, a farmer can get 30 bags of maize. 
He added, “I do not sell the fresh corn and that is why I did not plant the corn early, I rather let it dry in the farm by the time the rains are gone, then sell it dry in bags because there is less risk involved in terms of storage because if I sell fresh now, I am not sure I will get good market for it.’’