‘I plan to make my farm a model’

We have seen a lot of plants, species of fish and fruits in your farm that may appear strange to farmers in the north, how do you intend to transfer the technology to others?That is exactly the essence of the diversification in the farm. There is really no magic in everything you see in the […]

We have seen a lot of plants, species of fish and fruits in your farm that may appear strange to farmers in the north, how do you intend to transfer the technology to others?
That is exactly the essence of the diversification in the farm. There is really no magic in everything you see in the farm. I grew up as a farmer and I grew up to hear that some plants, such as the oil palm that so much looks like the date palm, cannot grow in the north. All along I have been wondering that if the date palm can grow well in the north, why not the oil palm even though their plants so much look alike? So I contacted the office of the Oil Palm Research Institute in Dutse, Jigawa State, where I collected one seedling of the improved oil palm and planted in my farm. It grew very well, bore fruits and so I went for more. Thereafter, I went for other plants that are alien to this part of the country like strawberry, apple, coffee, thyme and many others. I got some from the southern part of Nigeria but most of them were brought from some countries. I also brought improved species of goats from Sudan and Niger republics. I also brought varieties of pigeon, fish and guinea fowl from different countries and they are all doing fine. Recently, some fish farmers came from China and bought some species of fish that they intend to take to China and grow. If you notice, the people of my constituency  [Kura, Madobi and Garun Malam local government areas  of Kano State] are more into farming. Some are into the selling of guinea fowl and the eggs. The guinea fowl I have in this farm produces about two and a half the size of meat the other local guinea fowl can give you.
How can you teach members of your community this diversified farming?
That is the main reason why I had to undertake the journey towards integrated and diversified farming. I plan to make my farm a model where youths from my constituency and beyond will imbibe the system. You are aware that Kano State Government, under the Kwankwasiyya programme, has trained thousands of youths and married women in the area of agricultural production. As soon as the alien crops, birds and animals, including fish, get to the stage I can start giving them out for multiplication in other farms, youths, women and men farmers from my constituency and the rest of the state will surely be the beneficiaries. They will come to my farm, see what I have, and decide on the type of farming they want to embark on. We would give them the specie, seed and seedling and train them on how to go about it. There is money in most of those fruits, crops, fish, goats and vegetables you saw in the farm. Marketers go far and wide to import them. When we start producing them locally, you know what that means to our state economy and to the individual farmers.
Why do you still have guinea corn and millet, which are common crops grown in Kano, in your farm?
It is the diversification we are talking about. Those are traditional crops that we all grew up to see our farmers battling to grow them. We are now introducing to the farmers something they will grow and make instant money. Go and plant guinea corn in two hectares and plant apple or strawberry on one; after harvesting and selling all of them, check and see which one gives you good profit? We are introducing a diversified system of farming that will reduce hard labour on farms, increase crop yield and money for highly valued produce. We have more than enough land for all our farming needs in the state. I want a situation where a young man from my constituency after studying my farm will go and set up his fish pond surrounded with banana plantation. Using integrated farming system, he will be using the water from the ponds to water the plantation. Decompose dead branches and leaves of the banana to produce maggots for the fish. Let me see him dress in his white flowing gown to his farm because you do not need to look dirty before you could engage in that system of farming. Let me see that young farmer in his car and living in a good house that he got from the proceeds of his farm. The Kwankwasiyya programme on agriculture has set the foundation for our youths to learn a lot in agriculture. My farm will assist them with the practical aspect of integrated and diversified farming by giving those seeds, seedlings, animal, birds and fish species and transfer the technology to them. The federal government should come in to empower them through soft agricultural loans and industries for the processing of their produce like tomatoes.
How do you intend to ensure that after production, the youths get buyers of their produce?
That is not an issue at all as far as those things in my farm are concerned. If the whole youths in the state embarked on the farming and production of banana, apple, strawberry and English pear, they may not be able to produce enough for our local consumption in the state. Go to the fruits market at Yan Lemu any day and count the number of truck loads of fruits they offload daily. If for two days the trucks fail to supply fruits, you cannot find any on the streets. I am not aware of any state in Nigeria that produces black pepper and thyme in commercial quantity. If we can start it, it must sell. I am not sure the entire fish ponds in the state are providing up to 40 percent of our total fresh fish requirement in the state. So engineering more local fish production in the state will only mean trying to cover up for the shortfall in supply. When we commenced the farming of oil palm and production of palm oil in Kano State, that will bring the cost of the product low, reduce the circulation of adulterated palm oil and that means more money and more jobs to our youths. For now and even in the next 10 years, anyone that embarks on the production of these crops in the north will surely make money because the demand will always be higher than the production. So, there will be no fear of glut at all.