Katsina, NADF, others seal deal on 50-hectare all-season demonstration farm

The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with major partners to establish a 50-hectare all-season demonstration farm at the Sabke Dam in Katsina State. The farm will feature four staple crops – maize, sorghum, cowpea and soybeans—and will serve as a live demonstration site covering the entire agricultural value […]

The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with major partners to establish a 50-hectare all-season demonstration farm at the Sabke Dam in Katsina State.

The farm will feature four staple crops – maize, sorghum, cowpea and soybeans—and will serve as a live demonstration site covering the entire agricultural value chain, from land preparation to seed selection, soil nutrition, crop management, harvesting, post-harvest handling, and market access.

The agreement lays out a cooperative framework for the farm’s growth and was signed by the governor of Katsina State, legislators, the Sokoto Rima River Basin Authority, and business sector parties like OCP Africa and The Infrastructure Bank.

The Executive Secretary of NADF, Mohammed Ibrahim, noted that the agreement is a concrete outcome of a strategic public-private-partnership aimed at demonstrating the commercial viability of all-season agriculture using Sabke Dam’s irrigation infrastructure.

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Ibrahim described the initiative as a “proof of concept” to show how water infrastructure can be optimised for modern agriculture.

He revealed that following a visit to Katsina State, the NADF decided to take concrete steps by first funding “very bankable technical and commercial feasibility for the optimisation of this dam.”

“This model farm will showcase an outline of everything from proper land preparation through to seed genetics, plant nutrition, harvest and post-harvest, and hopefully a go-to market strategy,” Ibrahim said.

He said that OCP Africa, as technical manager, has completed a full soil mapping of the Sabke Dam irrigable area and will lead the development of custom fertilizer blends aligned with specific soil and crop types. “OCP has done a complete soil mapping and will now utilise that to showcase how blends should be put where they are in tandem with soil and crop type,” he said.

Governor Dikko Umar Radda said: “When the idea of the project was introduced to me, I quickly jumped into it, given the chain of benefits it will have on the economy of our state and on the livelihood of our people.

“We want to have activities in that project all year round so that we keep our people busy, we keep our facilities busy, and we optimize the use of the resources spent to build that very big dam that has been left fallow for a very long time.”

Dr. Alik Orevaoghene, of OCP Africa, said the farm would serve as a hub for capacity building. “The farm serves as a platform for teaching and for training smallholder farmers on good agronomic practices,” he said. According to the MoU, OCP is also expected to provide quality fertilisers for the farm and for any out-grower schemes.

Abubakar Malam, Managing Director of SRRBDA, hailed the effort as a revival of dormant infrastructure adding that “we are proud to donate 50 hectares of land for the development of this project and for food security in the country.”