…Kaduna farmers hopeful too

Farmers in Kaduna have expressed hope of bumper harvest in spite of late rainfall and delay in the distribution of subsidised fertilizer. Some of the farmers, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, said the adoption of new farming technique had helped to boost their production. One of the farmers, Mr […]

Farmers in Kaduna have expressed hope of bumper harvest in spite of late rainfall and delay in the distribution of subsidised fertilizer.
Some of the farmers, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, said the adoption of new farming technique had helped to boost their production.
One of the farmers, Mr Joel Lumga, said that this year’s harvest on his two hectares of land was more than that of the previous years.
“Last year, I harvested four bags of maize, four bags of soya beans and eight bags of groundnuts.
“But this year, I have already harvested 13 bags of groundnuts from the same piece of land and I am equally optimistic that I will harvest nothing less than 10 bags of soya beans, “he said.
Lumga attributed the high yield to the advice of experts on the need to plant early maturing seeds.
“I equally planted early enough, since rainfall was a bit late this year”.
He advised farmers to always seek expert advice if they hope to get high yield from their farms.
Another farmer, Mr James Stephen, said he expects nothing less than 12 bags of maize and eight bags of soya beans from his one hectare farm as against the six bags of maize harvested in 2014.
“I introduced mixed farming this year by cultivating maize and soya beans on the same piece of land and the technique has paid off.
“Also, because fertilizer was expensive, I resorted to chicken manure, which is more affordable and accessible.
“We bought 100 kg of the manure for N1, 000 as against N6, 000 for a 50 kg of chemical fertilizer,’’ Stephen said.
He advised farmers to adopt the use of organic fertilizer “which are cheaper, accessible and guarantee high yield.’’
Mr Domshep Emmanuel, also a farmer, said he was hopeful of harvesting nine to ten bags of soya beans as against the five bags he harvested last year.
He also attributed the high yield to expert advice and adoption of new farming techniques. (NAN)