FG supports wheat farming in Kano with over N130m

This was disclosed by the Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the state, Malam Adamu Muhammed Shehu, during the Kano roll-out of wheat value chain GES 2014/15 held in the state. According to him, the demand for wheat in Nigeria has reached about 3.7 million metric tonnes annually while the country used to spend about […]

This was disclosed by the Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the state, Malam Adamu Muhammed Shehu, during the Kano roll-out of wheat value chain GES 2014/15 held in the state.
According to him, the demand for wheat in Nigeria has reached about 3.7 million metric tonnes annually while the country used to spend about N635 billion on wheat imports annually, adding that this practice was unsustainable, especially for a country that has the potential to produce enough wheat to meet its local demands and even export.
“The minister has approved the participation of 11,500 farmers via the federal government’s processes of supporting each farmer with 90% of the cost of seeds and 50% subsidy for 2 bags of NPK fertiliser. This translates the federal government’s intervention on seed and fertiliser into the tune of N67, 275, 00 and N63, 250,000 respectively.
“So, for Kano State targeted wheat farmers, the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) stood at N130, 525,000. This is indeed very commendable and it clearly shows the commitment of the federal government towards ensuring the success of the programme.”
But  wheat farmers at the Bakalori Irrigation Project in Zamfara and Argungu in Kebbi State said government failure to implement the buyback policy as promised by the minister of agriculture Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has deterred them from going into wheat farming this season, stressing that they cultivated the product last season at a loss.
Farmers at Bakalori, particularly, recalled how the minister of agriculture went to Zamfara and asked the farmers to go into wheat production with a promise to buy the product from them, adding that owing to the minister’s assurances, they went as far as Kano to source for wheat seeds.
He lamented that after the harvest, it took the minister five months to send a delegation to buy the product, not even at the price agreed with the minister during the visit, after they have been forced by financial demands to sell at very low prices and recorded losses.