‘Date palm farming dates back 400 years in Jigawa’

This was disclosed to Daily Trust by the Village Head of Anguwan Kuka, Alhaji Muhammadu Mai Anguwan Gidan Kuka,a village known for date farming in Jigawa.He said: “I am 90 years of age. I met my grandfather growing dates. My great grandfather who was the founder of this village was also a date farmer. I […]

This was disclosed to Daily Trust by the Village Head of Anguwan Kuka, Alhaji Muhammadu Mai Anguwan Gidan Kuka,a village known for date farming in Jigawa.
He said: “I am 90 years of age. I met my grandfather growing dates. My great grandfather who was the founder of this village was also a date farmer. I inherited some of the date palm trees from my father and they are still yielding fruits.
“The truth is that date farming is more than 400 years old in Dutse. Some of the ones I planted myself are over 50 years old and I am still harvesting dates from them. Even this one close to my house I sold dates from it for about N20,000 last two weeks,” he said.
The village head who said he started planting date palm trees at the age of 12,added that he has about 30 date palm trees remaining after sharing most of his trees among his children.
He said some of the date palm trees can live up to 100 years while some die within 10 years, adding that the lifespan of date palm trees cannot be predicted.
Alhaji Muhammadu also told Daily Trust that date palm needs a cool place to thrive, adding that they use cow and other domestic animal dung as manure after covering the  surrounding with ashes.
He said they do not apply fertilizer because it kills the date palm adding that ashes prevent weevil and other insects from eating up the tree.
Another date farmer and trader,Abdullahi Alhassan,33, said he has been planting date palm since age 7 and has been in the business for the past 17 years.
“I solely depend on dates for my daily living. I have planted more than 250 date palm trees but not all are producing yet. In a good year, I can make up to N300,000 from dates alone. I built my house,bought cattle and land from the farming and trading in dates,” he said.
He further told Daily Trust that Anguwan Kuka and the surrounding villages are renowned for farming of dates in the whole of Jigawa and that their own species of dates is the best in the country.
“The seedlings of our own dates are about the best in the country. We have been given other types of so-called improved seedlings but they don’t thrive on our soil. So we rely on our seedlings. Right now I am planting over 1500 seedlings for an Abuja based man. Those who come to collect our seedlings and follow our instructions are enjoying the date palm business,” he said.
Shittu Saleh, 23,who inherited 14 date palm trees from his father said he now depends on them for his livelihood.
“Our father died and left behind 100 date palm trees and they were distributed among his children. I got 14 trees. Only eight are producing for now. I have also planted some on my own. I have in the last five years been able to buy some plots of land and cattle from the business. People used to come from Abuja,Lagos and Kaduna to buy our produce. In the last two weeks I have sold up to N30,000 from my farm,” he said.
Danliti Sanusi on the other hand is now a consultant in date farming as he goes to country homes of the rich to plant and look after the trees for them, adding, “I have been involved in date palm farming and date business for 20 years.  I have 20 trees that are currently producing and I also buy from some farmers. Our date trees produce dates twice a year. They produce during the dry and rainy seasons.
“I have also gained some expertise in this business. What people don’t know is that date palm has both male and female species. The secret is that at certain stage after planting the seedlings, we uproot the male species and sprinkle it on the female date palm and before you know it, the date palm will start producing. The maximum time for our dates to start producing is five years,” he said.
Sanusi said right now they have finished harvesting the dry season dates, adding that they are now waiting for the rainy season dates to ripen between now and next month.