By Zubairu Idris
Some beneficiaries of the input supports under the World Bank’s Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus programme (CARES), said the intervention would contribute in boosting agricultural productivity.
The farmers stated this in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) during projects inspection by the CARES-project officials and the media to some local government areas.
The local governments visited to assess achievements were Rano, Madobi, Bunkure, Gezawa, Minjibir and Kura, on Monday.The Project Coordinator, Mr Rufa’i Halilu, said that Kano-CARES-project spent about N300 million on farm inputs support component alone.He noted that the amount was expended in providing the beneficiaries with solar-powered water pumping machines, power tillers, planters, fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, sprayers, improved seeds, among others.Halilu explained that 980 poor farmers across the state so far benefited from the inputs assistance.Jamila Garba, one of the beneficiaries in Rano Local Government, thanked Kano-CARES for supporting them with facilities.“
They made farming easy and possible for us this time around, because, if not because of this intervention, many of us will not plant crops due high cost of fertilizers,” she said.Yunusa Usman, another beneficiary in Kura local area, commended the project and the state government for choosing them among beneficiaries of the support.Usman said it would go a long way in encouraging them to increase agricultural productivity in the state.On his part, Malam Abdullahi Umar, a beneficiary in Madobi area, thanked Kano-CARES for giving them improved seeds and other inputs to enhance agricultural productivity.
Umar said that such kinds of support were timely as farmers faced challenges of high cost of fertilizers and other farm inputs.He urged Kano-CARES project to widen the scope of the programme, to enable more farmers to benefit from the gesture.The beneficiaries from other local government areas also thanked the project for the intervention, which they said, had started yielding positive results of improved productivity.“As a result of the intervention, we are now predicting bumper harvest. We really thank the CARES-project for the support,” he said.Similarly, Mai-Unguwa Yahuza, Village Head of Jigore in Minjibir Local Government area, praised the project for rural roads rehabilitation, which he said, assisted immensely in linking up many communities.Yahuza further said that, it made transportation of people, goods and farm produce from one place to another easy.(NAN)
