Agriculture

5,000 Kaduna farmers affected by ginger blight receive inputs from FG

No fewer than 5,000 smallholder farmers who made losses during the 2023 farming season due to the effect of ginger blight disease on their farms across seven local government areas of Kaduna State on Tuesday got inputs as a form of intervention from the Federal Government

The Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund, Muhammad Abu Ibrahim, said this at the flag-off ceremony held in Kachia on Tuesday.

He said the intervention was the first phase of the input distribution programmeme of the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) under the Ginger Recovery Advancement and Transformation for Economic Empowerment (GRATE) programmeme, which was designed to provide agricultural inputs as a form of support to smallholder ginger farmers by the Federal Government.

According to him, the intervention programme will provide inputs, which include maize and sorghum seeds, fertilisers, agrochemicals, and crop protection products, to 5000 registered and validated smallholder ginger farmers from across the 7 affected local government areas of Kachia, Zango-Kataf, Kaura, Kagarko, Jema’a, Jabba, and Sanga in Kaduna State.

“The programme will enable the affected farmers to practice crop rotation on their farms affected by the gingerblight disease while also supporting them towards improved livelihoods from the economic losses they incurred due to the impact of the disease.” Abu Ibrahim said.

The NADF boss further said, “The NADF will further support the crop production process by providing monitoring and evaluation services, good agronomic practices (GAP), and market linkages for the farmers while also developing programmes to strengthen and develop the entire ginger value chain.”

While flagging off the distribution exercise, Kaduna State Governor Sen. Uba Sani, represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, said, “The State Government remains resolute to continue providing support to smallholder farmers as a strategy against poverty and boost the economic fortunes of our people’.

The governor then commended the federal government for their consistent and continuous support of the state government while promising to continue to work closely with the federal government and other key stakeholders for the benefit of the people of the state.

“We wish to extend our sincere gratitude to the Federal Government and the National Agricultural Development Fund for their support of our smallholder ginger farmers and for standing in solidarity with Kaduna State during this challenging period.

We acknowledge and appreciate the swift intervention being implemented, particularly the establishment of the National Ginger Blight Epidemic Taskforce to comprehensively address the issues arising from the huge losses suffered by our ginger farmers,” said Gov. Uba Sani.

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