Kaduna commends WAAPP intervention on agric

Speaking at the monitoring and evaluation visit to the WAAPP Nigeria activities in Kaduna State, KADP Programme Manager, Dr. Abdulkadir Kassim, noted that the areas the WAAPP project has decided to intervene in the state are in tandem with the desires and areas which the state government is trying to make positive impact. He said: […]

Speaking at the monitoring and evaluation visit to the WAAPP Nigeria activities in Kaduna State, KADP Programme Manager, Dr. Abdulkadir Kassim, noted that the areas the WAAPP project has decided to intervene in the state are in tandem with the desires and areas which the state government is trying to make positive impact.
He said: “Kaduna State government has been trying to see how it would intervene and support the farmers, but the support is not adequate enough because of the population of the farmers.
 “The desire now, for people to go into agriculture is the availability of quality seeds. So the intervention of the WAAPP programme in the provision of quality seeds to the farmers and its availability has tremendously boosted farming, leading to bountiful yields at harvest.
 According to him, Kaduna State has over 700,000 farm families and an average farm holding in the state is between 2 hectares to 2.5 hectares for the small scale farmers who constitute over 70% of the farming population of the state.
In his remarks, a National and West African Seed Specialist and the seed manager of WAAPP, Ebenezer Aje, said the team was impressed with the agricultural activities going on in the state and the successful partnership between WAAPP and agricultural research institutes and agencies, adding that Nigeria’s agricultural activities have the capacity to improve food security not only in the country but Africa as a whole.
 He urged KADP to intensify effort in their programme and to see WAAPP as a useful and formidable partner which intends to boost agricultural activities in West Africa.