How Hunkuyi is fast becoming a vegetable hub

When Daily Trust visited Dallatun Hunkuyi, several farming activities on both sides of the road leading from Zaria to Katsina through Hunkuyi were ongoing with the roadside vegetable market that provides fresh fruits and vegetables, such as onions, tomato, pepper, carrots and lettuce for travellers, keeping many of the young men busy.Two of the farmers […]

When Daily Trust visited Dallatun Hunkuyi, several farming activities on both sides of the road leading from Zaria to Katsina through Hunkuyi were ongoing with the roadside vegetable market that provides fresh fruits and vegetables, such as onions, tomato, pepper, carrots and lettuce for travellers, keeping many of the young men busy.
Two of the farmers who spoke to these reporters, Alhaji Lawal Abdullahi and Ibrahim Uthman, said farming activities have been taking place at Mandadi for over 40 years and the farmers there mainly produce carrots, cabbage, groundnut, lettuce, cucumber among others.
“Our main activities usually take place during the dry season. We also farm during the rainy season but our major activities are usually higher during the dry season. During the rainy season we usually plant maize. After harvesting the maize, we plant rice and even cabbage,carrot and tomato.
“Businessmen usually come to buy the produce and transport them to places like Lagos, Borno, Kano and other parts of the country.
However in some instances, when markets are congested with goods, we incur losses because these are produce that we cannot store. Whenever such situation occurs we have no option than to leave the produce at the farm while we wait for Allah’s intervention,” Alhaji Abdullahi said.
On his part, Uthman said the major problem irrigation farmers face in that area is that of pests, ants and other creatures that destroy farm produce, adding that“apart from that, there is also the issue of fertiliser. The ones distributed by government are usually not enough.
“Well, in this farming business there is the blessing of Allah in it. Through it we take care of our families, build houses, marry out our daughters or marry new wives and above all some of us have gone for the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, we make our living from this farming, and we are able to derive our satisfaction from it,” Uthman added.
He said the process of planting lettuce is easy, explaining thus: “If a farmer gets his seeds, he plants the mon a special field reserved for nursing. After about 25 days, they would become seedlings. The farmer would now uproot and transfer them to his farm and replant on the ridges he prepared. It will take another 40 days for it to mature. This is in an ideal situation with normal watering of at least once in a week, application of the required fertiliser and absence of disease.
“The process of planting cabbage is similar with that of lettuce. The only difference is in the maturity period. When you plant cabbage seeds, it takes about 30 days before it becomes seedling to be transferred to the main farm. After planting the seedlings, it would take another 90 days to be ready for harvest. This is in an ideal situation just as mentioned about lettuce.
“The planting of tomato also has similarity with cabbage and lettuce. A farmer would plant his seeds in his nursing farm to become seedlings after about 22 days. Thereafter, it is transferred to the main farm and it would be ready for the market after about three months. The same procedure applies to carrots,” he said.
Both farmers said they receive assistance from agriculturalists that visit them from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and give them free advice on how best to enhance their production.
They said their only source of water for irrigation in the area is the Hunkuyi dam, adding, “we don’t experience problem of water with the dam. But the major problem is that the dam requires rehabilitation. We have learnt that there is a disagreement between Kaduna and Katsina state governments on the rehabilitation work. This is why we want to call on the federal government to take over the work.
“Doing that would allow more farming activities in this area and other neighbouring communities. We need this irrigation activity sustained because it provides employment to our teeming youths.
“This dry season activity has stopped our youth and even the old ones from migrating to the urban areas. We feel that we don’t need to go to anywhere since we have something doing here. We are gainfully engaged throughout the year. We thank Allah for that,” they said.