Farmers in Hadejia, Jigawa, laud rain pattern, expect bumper harvest


 Some farmers in Hadejia, Jigawa, have expressed optimism of recording high yields in 2016 harvest season due to appreciable rainfall, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
A cross section of the farmers, who spoke with NAN in Hadejia on Monday, expressed joy over the volume of rainfall so far this year.
Alhaji Musa Muhammad, a farmer, said he was anticipating a bumper harvest this season in view of the rainfall and favourable weather conditions.
``The early arrival of rain enabled me to cultivate my farmland in good time.
``So far, farming activities are going on smoothly without serious problems, `` he said.
Muhammad expressed the hope that the rain and good weather conditions would ensure positive fortunes for farmers.
Abdulmumini Garba, a millet grower, said that he was anticipating good harvest in view of the volume of rainfall and absence of pests.
Garba added that in few weeks to come he would be harvesting his crops.
Also speaking, Malam Dauda Ali, rued the high cost of fertiliser, a trend which he said exposed farmers to difficulties in sourcing for the commodity.
``High cost of fertilisers is a source of concern to the farmers, as most of us could not afford the exorbitant prices at the market," he said.
Ali faulted the distribution of fertilisers and farm inputs to farmers through clusters at ward levels, alleging that genuine farmers were not accessing the commodities.
He called on the state government to adopt proactive measures that would channel the commodity directly to the farmers.
Ali commended the state government over the introduction of various farmer support programmes, adding that the gesture would encourage agricultural activities.
Another farmer, Abubakar Matsaro, also called for the introduction of modern preservation technologies to reduce wastage of agricultural produce.
It will be recalled that the Jigawa Government had distributed over 6, 000 tonnes of assorted fertilisers, seeds and inputs to farmers during this cropping season.
The commodities were distributed to the farmers at subsidised rates in the 27 local government areas of the state.
NAN checks showed that a bag of fertiliser was sold at a price range of between N10, 000 and N11, 000 in the open market. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomato disease outbreak: Institute appeals for research funding

The National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, has appealed for funding to carry out research and create awareness on the tuta absoluta pest on tomatoes. The Institute’s Head of Vegetable Programme, Dr Olagorite Adetula, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday that there was an urgent need to tackle the problem to save the economy. Adetula said the institute needed money to do surveillance survey of the pest/damage, ascertain the impact of the damage and proffer solution for eradicating the pest. She appealed to the Federal Government to help the institute get pheromones to lure and trap the pests and distribute to farmers. ``Spraying insecticides is not the best, the pest has high production rate, some of them can escape while spraying it and they will be resistant to the insecticide thereby causing us more cost. ``The pheromones can be used for six to eight weeks before changing it, it is very effective, the pest has short life cycle, wit
Read more

10,000 women farmers to be engaged in ECOWAS rice project – official

Image
 Mr Richard Olafare, the President, Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) says 10,000 women will be engaged in the recently inaugurated Rice Seed Up-Scaling Project. This is contained in a presentation on the project made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday. Olafare said 8,000 youths would also be engaged in the scaling project. According to him, the number of women and youths represented 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of the 20,000 farmers that will participate in the project. NAN reports that the project is an initiative of the West Africa Seed Programme (WASP) in support of the ECOWAS Rice Offensive Programme that was inaugurated in 2014. Among other objectives, it is targeting the production of 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice for Nigeria by December 2017, using 1,200 certified seeds. The project is being implemented by SEEDAN in collaboration with the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultural Re
Read more

NEGPRO project can create more jobs with inclusion of meat production— Badmus

•Tuns Farm leads food safety, quality system audit The Chairman , Tuns Farms Nigeria, Asiwaju Olatunde Badmus, has disclosed that the proposed one million jobs expected to be created through the National Egg Production Scheme (NEGPRO) can be doubled if extended to meat production. He made this known when a team from the office of the Vice President, Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Health and Education at the company’s headquarters in Osogbo, the Osun state capital recently. Olatunde Badmus, while sharing the company’s experience on chicken inclusion in the Osun state’s school meal program which the company has been handling since the introduction of the school feeding program four years ago, said they can achieve so much more in terms of job creation through meat production “As we speak, six state governors among who are Kebbi and Borno, have signalled their government’s preparedness to look into this and have invited TUNS farm to their states to discuss modalities for
Read more