Dantankari growing tomato farms

Residents were seen in the town engaging themselves with the irrigation farming of the commodity in their farmlands.The farmers, our correspondent gathered, have improvised their source of water by digging local wells across their farmlands with which they use water pumping machines in watering the farms.Farmers in Dantankari first cultivate maize or rice in the […]

Residents were seen in the town engaging themselves with the irrigation farming of the commodity in their farmlands.
The farmers, our correspondent gathered, have improvised their source of water by digging local wells across their farmlands with which they use water pumping machines in watering the farms.
Farmers in Dantankari first cultivate maize or rice in the raining season and after harvest, irrigation activities commence in the same farmlands from the month of September, using the wells as their source of water.
Youths from other local government areas of Katsina State and Zaria in Kaduna State are trooping to Dantankari village to get daily farm jobs.
The secretary of irrigation farmers association of Dantankari, Alhaji Haruna Yakubu, said they bought the idea of tomato farming from farmers in Danja Local Government Area who were among the pioneers of tomato farming in the state.
“The idea of tomato farming was sold to us by Danja farmers who were trooping to our village to rent farmlands about seven years ago and now as we picked it about twelve truck loads of tomatoes are being transported out of Dantankari every week, between the months of December and March,” said Alhaji Haruna Yakubu.
He added that they source their seedlings from open markets in Funtua, Zaria, Saminaka and Jos, adding that government used to supply them with fertilisers and pesticides at subsidised rates.
“Government provides us with fertilisers and pesticides annually but the problem we are facing is that we are not receiving them at the appropriate time thus, we cannot rely on it. Sometimes it is during harvesting period that we receive fertilisers. That is why farmers here prefer to buy from markets the needed farming condiments.”
An elderly farmer, Malam Muhammad Kabir Haruna, explained that farmers preferred transporting their commodities to southern part of the country than to sell them at home.
Haruna: “For example, now if you take your tomatoes to Ibadan a farmer will buy empty baskets at the rate of N300 each, paper and thread to cover each basket is N100 and the cost of transportation is N400 per basket. So if the price of tomato is N3, 000 in Ibadan and you subtract the cost of transport and revenue, a farmer may end up with N2, 300 as against N1, 600 we are now selling it here in the farm.”
Another farmer, Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed 32, said businessmen from different parts of Nigeria troop into Dantankari from the months of December to April to buy tomatoes from farmers.
He stressed the need for government to hasten processes of distribution of fertiliser and pesticides so that farmers can receive them at the appropriate time.  
“For irrigation farmers to benefit optimally, distribution of subsidised fertiliser and pesticide should commence as early as August or September,” Alhaji Aliyu said.
He urged the Katsina State Government to dredge the Dantankari dam to boost irrigation activities in the town and its environs.