Farmers move to enhance wheat farming in Plateau

In a frantic effort by the authorities to introduce the farmers to commercial production of wheat in the Plateau, the Lake Chad Research Institute based in Maiduguri, Borno State, provided farmers in the Plateau with assorted wheat seeds and asked them to cultivate at demonstration farms in Vom, near Jos.The benefiting farmers assembled at a […]

In a frantic effort by the authorities to introduce the farmers to commercial production of wheat in the Plateau, the Lake Chad Research Institute based in Maiduguri, Borno State, provided farmers in the Plateau with assorted wheat seeds and asked them to cultivate at demonstration farms in Vom, near Jos.
The benefiting farmers assembled at a farmer’s field day to harvest their rain-fed wheat at the farmlands in Vom provided to them by the National Root Crops Research Institute that also provided them with necessary inputs for the demonstration farming.
The Regional Coordinator of Support of Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC), Professor Ibrahim Umar Abubakar, who is also the coordinator of wheat project in West Africa countries of Nigeria, Niger, Mali and Mauritania, said the wheat demonstration farming at the highland will help evaluate different varieties of wheat to determine the suitable variety for production.
One of the wheat farmers in the area, Rhoda Pam, described wheat farming as lucrative and time consuming, adding: “For you to get high yield from a wheat farm, you must pay attention to weeding. Wheat can never be good if you allow weed to overtake your farm. Wheat farming is not for the lazy person.
“We are still adopting our traditional method of harvest and thrashing of wheat here due to lack of modern equipment. We harvest by cutting the grains from the stem and put into a sack. With the wheat in the sacks, we pick sticks and start beating the sacks. That is how we thrash our wheat to separate the grains from the stem. The idea of putting the wheat in sacks before beating it is to minimise dust and stones.”
Another wheat farmer in Vom, Paul Gyang, said wheat farming is profitable.
He said he started wheat farming three years ago and has not experienced any loss or difficulty, adding: “Wheat is a good crop and has good market here on the Plateau. I now give it more attention and by next season I will plant more wheat than before.”
A female wheat farmer Matta Bulus said: “It was our father who started farming wheat about 25 years ago. At that time, we didn’t know how to process it at home. He only planted it and sold the raw wheat while he kept some as seed for future use, although at that time there was no good market for wheat. It was later that we discovered how to make food from wheat like tuwo and kunu. Currently, the whole of our family have embraced wheat farming because of its profit.”
“We are now into both rain and irrigation farming of wheat and every year our family produces between 100 and 150 bags. In addition, we now have adequate knowledge of how to process wheat for family food. Wheat is sold in different categories, we sell in local measure (Mudu) at N250 and we also sell a 50 kilogrammes at N12, 000 per bag.”    
On his part, the Programme Manager, Plateau Agricultural Development Programme (PADP), Philip Gonap, said that his agency has the mandate for agricultural extension services in the state, adding that they run wheat programme in ten local government areas for both the wet and dry season wheat projects.
Gonap said: “Here in Plateau, we have a favourable weather condition for the production of wheat. That is why we key into the project and another support is through the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) under the Transformation Agenda. Wheat is one of the crops that are being redeemed, where the government will provide improved seeds and other inputs to farmers as way of enhancing its production.
“We are appealing to farmers to take wheat farming very serious because wheat is gold. People may not know it, but because we are revamping the projects we are calling on our farmers to take key interest in wheat production. Wheat is currently the source of many food items not only in Nigeria but throughout the world. Every occasion you go almost all the foods we eat today are from wheat, the demand for wheat is higher than the supply we make right now.”