‘Fruits production not encouraged in Kebbi’

The first civilian governor of the state, Abubakar Musa, said his dream of establishing a processing plant when setting up his farm was not realised due to factors that include lack of government commitment to boosting agriculture.He said he was forced to abandon his 23 hectares orchids located in Warra, Ngaski Local Government Areaof the […]

The first civilian governor of the state, Abubakar Musa, said his dream of establishing a processing plant when setting up his farm was not realised due to factors that include lack of government commitment to boosting agriculture.
He said he was forced to abandon his 23 hectares orchids located in Warra, Ngaski Local Government Areaof the state where he produced mangoes and oranges because of inadequate care.
“My plan when I set up the place after leaving work and before joining politics many years ago was to have an industry that could process the fruits from the orchids. Unfortunately, that was not successful. The fruit produced is very good and is still yielding, but it was somehow abandoned because it is located at a remote area of Warra and I am not always around to take good care of it,” he said.
On whether he still nurses the plan to revive the orchid, he said: “Well, at this age, it is very risky. I used to stay in the farm before I joined politics, but now I don’t think I can do that because government has not created enabling environment for people to invest in agriculture. There are no serious indicators from government to boost agriculture, so it is not worth taking the risk.
“During our time, we established stores where large quantity of fertilisers are stored for distribution through community leaders in all the local government areas because they are the ones who know the genuine farmers. In each LGA, every store is coded in order to curb the issue of diversion. Unfortunately, things are not the same today,” he said.
The Kebbi State Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Kelvin Tekpat, said oil palm, citrus and guava are also produced in large quantities in the state because of the rainfall regime that favoured the production of some fruits in Kebbi, saying places like Bagudo, Ngaski and Yauri have a fairly favourable weather and rainfall conditions for orchids and plantation farming.
“Lots of orchids are littered in the state and there are so many potentials for large scale production of variety of fruits, with people ready to grab the opportunity to produce in commercial quantity. We shall in due course conduct surveys to document data with regards to orchid’s development in Kebbi,” he said.
The director added that the documentation will also help to identify areas of government intervention in its agricultural transformation agenda that include orchid’s development.
“We hope that in the near future, Kebbi State will get to the level of producing fruits at commercial level and at the high level of exportation beyond neighbouring countries. Mango is produced in large quantity in Zuru, Kamba, Dandi and along Argungu road.
“Actually, orchids have very high potentials, but the big challenge is convincing people to go into the business. Though we are lucky to have flood plain areas in Argungu where mango is produced,however, inadequate rainfall is another major challenge because orchid’s production requires high and medium rain condition to strive. High temperature is also a challenge because they aid in the evaporation of water needed for the plantation,” he said.
But, an Argungu-based farmer and former Programme Manager, Kebbi Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KARDA), Abdullahi Saidu Argungu, said the mangoes produced in large quantity are mostly local variety with a substantive quantity of the beaded species in high market demand.
He said mangos produced in Argungu and Dandi, about 100 kilometers from Birnin Kebbi are also exported to neighbouring Niger Republic where they are consumed in large quantity.
“There are also other fruits like the new improved jumbo guava that is also produced in the Emir of Argungu, Sama’ila Mera’s orchids and so many family and private orchids in Argungu emirate,”he said.
In Zuru, an agriculturalist and chairman of the agric committee of Zuru Emirate Development Society (ZEDS), Alhaji Samaila Ikoh Dabai Seme, acknowledged that the emirate has all season mangoes thereby making the area a major supplier in the state. He, however, admitted that the prices are hiked due to high demand especially during the Ramadan fasting period.
Seme also noted that banana and watermelon that are also produced in Zuru are currently sold at high prices because they are not in season. He said fruits are normally produced in large quantities towards the end of the rainy season.
He decried lack of practice of orchids and plantation farming in the North as part of the challenges that caused the over-dependence on fruits from the South, adding, “our people in the North are not used to long-term investment in agriculture. Another major concern is the lack of viable seedlings that are not readily available to encourage farmers. That is why consumers are left at the mercy of marketers and high prices of fruits especially during the Ramadan when they are consumed in large quantities.
“Take for example, in Zuru, it is only the Emir of Zuru, Maj-Gen. Sani Sami’s orchid that produces orange  in commercial quantity most of which is supplied to a Federal Technical College and some few individual retailers in the state.