FG flags off dry season wheat production with 300 farmers in Jigawa

The federal government, through the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), has commenced dry season wheat production on a 100-hectare land in Marke town in Kaugama Local Government Area of Jigawa donated by the state government. Already, land clearing, tilling and ploughing on the land has begun in order for farmers not to miss the […]

The federal government, through the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), has commenced dry season wheat production on a 100-hectare land in Marke town in Kaugama Local Government Area of Jigawa donated by the state government.

Already, land clearing, tilling and ploughing on the land has begun in order for farmers not to miss the planting window, which normally begins from 15th November.

Inputs such as seeds, pumping machines, generators, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides have also been delivered to the selected farmers by NALDA and is expected to engage 300 hundred youths in the area.

The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, while addressing the farmers at the flag-off ceremony held on the farm in Kaugama, said the choice of Jigawa State for the official launch of the dry season wheat farming was largely due to the soil texture of the state which is suitable for wheat production.

“These 100 hectares donated or provided by the state government would take 300 hundred farmers which NALDA would be providing them with the seeds, pumping machines, pesticides and herbicides and the end of the day NALDA would do the off taking from them so that farmers would have value, so it is purely an out-growers project that NALDA has brought to Jigawa State.

“I’m glad to inform us that the state government has provided us with land, but we would still ask your Excellency to provide us with more lands as NALDA intends to make Jigawa the hallmark of wheat production in Nigeria,” he explained.

Prince Ikonne said he was committed to working with the state on the project, adding that when more lands are made available; the number of youths to be engaged would also increased.

Responding, the Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, said the state ranks amongst top wheat producers in the country, adding that with NALDA’s intervention, the state would become the biggest wheat producer in the country.

The governor stated that the effort of the state in agriculture is being complemented by the support from the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Programme and NALDA’s intervention.

“We reiterate our commitment from the governor down to the extension worker that you would need in the field.

“We are committed to this development, we are committed to agriculture and we are committed to obeying President Muhammadu Buhari who asked us to produce what we eat and eat what we produce,” the government said.

Governor Abubakar applauded NALDA for training 270 youths in the state to be soil doctors, noting that the gesture would go a long way in boosting best agricultural practices in the state.

“I want to also thank you most sincerely for training 270 young men of Jigawa state to be soil doctors and you just promised me that the kit that they would use is being ordered and would soon be delivered for distribution to them so that they would carry out soil analysis on our farms so we move to near precision farming and application of the right fertilizer for each land portion in the state,” he said.

Responding to the NALDA Boss’s request for more land donation, the governor said Jigawa State had over 400,000 hectares of land that is good for all year round farming and that the state is ready to donate more lands to NALDA, especially as the purpose is for supporting Jigawa people.