By Mohammed Bababusu
Nasarawa State Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with others stakeholders are working to generate a database for dry season farmers that will enhance proper intervention in the sector.
Mr Emmanuel Alanana, Programme Manager of the State’s Agricultural Development Programme (NADP) made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lafia.
Alanana said that this was in line with the recent directive by the governor to the ministry and relevant agencies to harness the potential for dry season farming in the state.
He added that they were working with the respective farmers’ associations to register more dry season farmers in the state.
Alanana said, “We have just met with the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and discussed on the need for more farmers to embrace dry season farming.
“As from next week, we would commence registration of more dry season farmers for us to have a database that would make for better planing and intervention,” he said.
He said that the state had huge potential for dry season farming, adding that its yields were higher than those of the rain-fed season, if given the attention it usually required.
Alanana said hat the state had been commited to the course of all-year-round farming geared toward food sufficiency, hence the annual provision of farm inputs, especially to the dry season farmers.
“Last year, the state government provided about 6,000 bags of assorted fertilisers to dry season farmers at subsidised rate, alongside improved seeds and other chemicals.
“More of such should be expected this year given the commitment of the governor to boost agricultural production in the state,” Alanana added.
The programme manager said that apart from the attention to dry season farming, the state government has been collaborating with the Federal Government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in the value chain development programme for rice and cassava.
He said that the programme had greatly impacted the lives of small -holder farmers, thereby boosting their productions.
On post-harvest losses, Alanana said that the solution lied in agricultural mechanisation.
He said that given its capital intensive nature, government alone could not handle it, hence the need for sustainable partnerships with local and international organisations.
Alanana said that the state recently received a grant from the Japanese Embassy for mini harvesters and power tillers, and sought for more of such interventions.
The programme manager said that farmers in the state were also being linked with companies where they could get some of the mechanised farming inputs at cheaper rates.
The commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Timothy Ojoma, responding to the issue of dry season farming, said that the Kogi Government was adequately prepared for the take-off of the 2023/2024 dry season farming activities.
Ojoma disclosed that communities in the Local Government Areas whose ecology supports dry season farming had been identified and sensitisation activities had commenced to enable them perform optimally in food production in the state.
“Already, the Kogi Agricultural Development Project is in the forefront to actualize this project for optimal results, ” he said.
On the distribution of farm inputs to farmers in the state, the commissioner disclosed that inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, seedlings particularly cassava cuttings were given through various channels.
He gave the various channels to include; Ministry of Agriculture, Kogi Agricultural Development Project, NG-Cares and VCDP.
“These agencies are collaborating to ensure that genuine farmers are reached out with these implements to help boost their food production both in wet and dry seasons,””he added.
Ojoma, who spoke on the sad side of farming, which are the lost-harvest losses, especially of easily perishable commodities such as fruits and vegetables and fish, said such losses were reduced through the training of the farmers.
According to him, because of effects of such losses on the psychics and finances of farmers, adequate trainings on post-harvest handling were usually carried out by the government in collaboration with National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM), Ilorin, Kwara.
Ojoma further said that storage and processing facilities such as coolers, smoking kiln were procured and distributed to farmers in the state to prevent them from experiencing losses.
On interventions, the commissioner said interventions, along agricultural value chains in the State came in by APPEALS project, VCDP, NG Cares and SHEP, among others.
Ojoma said, “The value chains targeted are rice, cassava, cashew, poultry, fisheries, horticultural crops etc.
“These value chains are well developed in terms of defined flow of activities from input supplies, transportation, production and marketing.”
The tractorisation programme of government, according to Ojoma, is impeded at the moment by the dearth of tractors for the farmers.
“This has generally affected the size of cropped area of the State.
“All the same, though the demand for tractors is high, most of the few available ones are unserviceable and more need to be supplied by the government and other corporate organisations to boost food production in the state.
“The tractorisation programme of the government, not withstanding, is successful in view of the challenges the state is facing in that regard, ” the commissioner said.(NAN)