Farmers express hope as Borno revamps agriculture

Farmers in Borno State said they have seen clear sign that the present administration in the state has taken adequate steps towards ensuring that the agricultural sector, which is one of the worst hit by Boko Haram insurgency, is not only revamped but turned into a business. Some of the farmers that spoke to these […]

Farmers in Borno State said they have seen clear sign that the present administration in the state has taken adequate steps towards ensuring that the agricultural sector, which is one of the worst hit by Boko Haram insurgency, is not only revamped but turned into a business.
Some of the farmers that spoke to these reporters said they are convinced that the state government has taken real steps to turn agriculture from the traditional farming for survival to farming as a business capable of enhancing the economy of all stakeholders in the value chain.
Abba Kyari is one of the several youth recently trained by Sardauna Foundation on fish and poultry production in the state. He told these reporters that the state government has concluded arrangements to give all the trainees loan to establish their farms with assurance from the state government to establish an effective value chain for them.
“We have been assured that when we start production, the state government will be buying eggs, birds and fish from us for school feeding. There will also be availability of assorted feed and we could as well sell to restaurants, hotels and other industries,” he said.
Hajiya Hauwa Wasini, a female beans farmer from Southern Borno, said she has visited the Farm Center in Maiduguri where she saw several tractors and assorted farming implements bought by the state government.
“I understand those tractors are up to 2,000 pieces all for Borno State alone. Five years ago, some local governments had no single tractor.
“If the 27 local government areas in the state are to share the 2,000 tractors, at least 50 must go to each. This is unprecedented. Government has already asked us to form farmers’ cooperative associations as most of the farming tools will be shared to farmers through the cooperatives,” she said.
She lamented that the only snag is the fact that Boko Haram insurgents have taken over a lot of farmlands and farming communities thereby preventing so many farmers from cultivating their farms.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu Dilli, said it is true that insurgents have occupied a lot of farmlands in the state but with the advances the military are making these days, it is hoped that they will soon finish clearing the areas for people to go back, saying as people are relocating to liberated areas, we follow them with our bulldozers and machineries to clear the land in readiness for the farming season.
“It is not likely that this thing will go beyond the next two or three months. Since the present federal government came into power, we have seen a lot of changes. We can now go to places we could not go before. Even where we are doing our seeds multiplication now, a year ago we could not go there. But now we have been there and we are multiplying our seeds. People are working there now.
“We have started growing vegetables now around Alau Dam. We are doing the same thing in Auno. We have started farming in Southern Borno. All these were not possible one year ago. That is why we are saying that we are hopeful the advancement will continue and the entire state should be liberated soonest. By the grace of God, by March when the rainy season will start, we hope our farmers can farm in any part of the state.
“Under our rural development programme of the Ministry of Agriculture, we intend to construct 15 kilometer roads in all the 27 local government areas of the state to ease the transportation of farm produce from remote areas to towns and villages. We have actually perfected plans to standardize the agric sector in a way it will be agric business,” he said.
Alhaji Dilli said the state is multiplying seeds on 190 hectares at Alau Dam near Maiduguri, and also developing another 190 hectares for the multiplication of seeds in Southern Borno in addition to the seed multiplication out growers engaged in Gombe to multiply seeds for Borno farmers.
“Our target is to make farming easy for every living soul in Borno State by providing enough improved seeds, fertilizer, tractors to every farmers association. We have also procured rice mills, collapsible chicken cages that we shall distribute to youth to embark on poultry production. Our target is to provide avenue for every person in Borno to be engage in agric business.
“We have also bought enough groundnuts oil mills for the state. To develop a workable and effective value chain, we intend to encourage the cultivation of groundnut through the improved groundnut seeds that we intend to distribute. When the groundnut is harvested, they will be processed and milled. The oil will be marketed while the cake will be used as chicken feed for the poultries.
“When we distribute chicks to the farmers, government should be able to buy up the eggs and use for school feeding so that children of school age can be attracted to schools. The surplus corn we hope to grow in the state will also be used as poultry feed. We have carefully designed everything in a way that people will be contemplating leaving white collar jobs and go for farming,” he said.