The Commissioner of Agriculture, Malam Ibrahim Hussaini, has said that the vision of Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s administration is to make agri-business the leading contributor of Kaduna state’s economy.
The commissioner made this known during his presentation at the Business Expo component of 7th edition of Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KadInvest 7.0) last Thursday.
He said that Kaduna state has comparative advantage in production of several crops, including maize, ginger and tomatoes, as well as soya.
According to Malam Ibrahim, Kaduna state is the leading subnational in maize and ginger cultivation in the country, adding that it ranks second in tomatoes and third in soya in Nigeria.
The commissioner said that rice, sugar cane, sorghum, wheat, cassava and vegetables are grown in large quantities across the state.
‘’In line with the Kaduna state agricultural development strategy, the Ministry of Agriculture is collaborating with both local and international investors to develop value chains of comparative advantage,’’ he pointed out.
Giving reasons why investors should invest in the state, the commissioner said that Kaduna state has a vast land mass estimated at 46,053 km, which is about 5% of the country’s total land mass.
He also stated that the state has 17 grazing reserves which are available for livestock development, adding that ‘’there is availability of water bodies for irrigation purposes across the state.’’
‘’The soil PH, vegetation and climate are favourable for cultivation of a wide range of crops and rearing of livestock’’, Malam Ibrahim further said.
