A non-governmental organisation (NGO), When In Need Foundation, has donated seedlings worth millions of naira to Southern Kaduna farmers.
The chief executive officer of the foundation, High Chief Chetachi Nwoga Ecton, who flagged off the distribution in Kwoi in Jaba local government area of Kaduna State said the only way to fight hunger is to farm.
The seedlings donated by the foundation include: 13-bags of 100kg rice, 33-bags 75kg of maize, 16-bags of 75kg soya beans, 9-bags of 75kg black and white beans, Okro 3-bags of 50kg, 2,800 tubers of yam and 30-bags of fertiliser.
According to her, agriculture remains the major tool to tackle poverty, poor diet and economic challenges in contemporary society, adding that Nigeria will become a better place if the people can embrace the practice of both subsistence and mechanised agriculture.
Chetachi further stressed that the gesture by the foundation is a way of giving back to the society especially to the good people of Ham Chiefdoms, adding that the foundation has carried out similar distribution in three other states.
She said that it is always her joy to assist in the area of hunger and that she has done it in three different states. “The only way we can decrease hunger is to encourage locally made goods. We cannot do everything but we can assist in every little way possible. My advice to the farmers is very simple: they should just plant. The more you plant the more you have. If you eat all now, you lost all but if you plant, we can have enough tomorrow. Many chiefdoms will benefit from this intervention,” she said.
In his remarks, the monarch of Ham, Jaba Chiefdoms, Kpop Jonathan Danladi Gyet Maude, described Chetachi as a blessing to her world, adding that her gesture to assist is the result of imbibing the good culture and character of the Ham people.
He promised that his people will seize the golden opportunity to plant the seeds for both home consumption and commercial purposes, while assuring that the community will continue to embrace farming even as agriculture remains the panacea to sustainable growth and development.
Delivering a paper at the event on the topic, “The challenges of Southern Kaduna and the need for intervention,” the guest speaker, Prof. I. K Auta said lack of unity in the region is one of the weapons the enemies is using against the Ham people.
Auta who is also the acting president of the Southern Kaduna People’s Union, (SOKAPU) lamented that the southern Kaduna people are strongly united in different states of the federation and in diaspora until they see themselves in Kaduna State, their home town.
He stressed that overcoming the challenges posed in the region as a result of pursuing personal interest against the general good of the people will make it impossible for development to thrive in certain areas.
