Wheat farmers plant 60% of new Mexican seed

Wheat farmers in Nigeria have given the assurance that they are targeting over 1.8 metric tons of farm yields from this year’s ongoing dry season farming.  The president, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Salim Sale Muhammad, said this in Kano while commissioning vehicles purchased by the Kebbi and Zamfara states chapters of the association […]

Wheat farmers in Nigeria have given the assurance that they are targeting over 1.8 metric tons of farm yields from this year’s ongoing dry season farming.

 The president, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Salim Sale Muhammad, said this in Kano while commissioning vehicles purchased by the Kebbi and Zamfara states chapters of the association to aid their activities.

 He said that so far, they have planted 60 per cent out of the 90,000 hectares of wheat across the 14 northern states that are into wheat farming, and that with the guidance of new system of farming and an improved seed imported from Mexico, the target would be achieved.

According to him, the achievement so far is as a result of the commitment put in place by the present administration to ensure the revival of wheat farming across the country, adding that in the near future they would bridge the existing gap of 240,000 metric tons of local needs and even export.

 “Our initial target was to plant 90,000 hectares across the 14 states, but due to the new variety we received from Mexico, it requires time and needs to be done steadily, we plated over 60 per cent of the seed given. I assure you that with this new seed we can produce about 1.8 million metric tons of rice from this dry season farming.”

 “By the next season all arrangements have been put in place to commence wheat farming twice in a year. That is, we will begin wet season wheat farming by next year. So get your farms ready and ensure you do everything on time as we will start from this wet season,” he assured the farmers.

 Earlier, the Kano state governor, represented by his senior special assistant on agriculture, Hafizu Muhammad, assured of the state government’s commitment to support farmers to depend on themselves.