BoA Targets 3m Tonnes Of Ginger Production In 5 Years

The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) has projected that Nigeria’s ginger production could rise to three million tonnes within five years as it intensifies efforts to revive the industry following devastating losses caused by ginger blight.

The Managing Director of BoA, Ayodeji Oludare Sotinrin, disclosed this on Sunday during a visit to ginger farms in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State to inspect mature crops and harvested ginger under the bank’s revival programme.

Sotinrin said the intervention, which began last year, had reached about 3,400 farmers organised into 15 clusters, with support including ginger planting materials and agricultural extension services.

He explained that the bank planned to expand the programme beyond the participating communities and establish nurseries to support ginger production in 16 states.

According to him, the initiative is aimed at rebuilding the country’s ginger industry after ginger blight devastated production in major growing areas, causing substantial losses for farmers.

As part of the recovery strategy, the bank plans to use some of the harvested ginger for tissue culture to produce planting materials on a larger scale.

Sotinrin explained that the process involves multiplying ginger in specialised laboratories before transferring the plantlets to nurseries for further development and distribution to farmers.

He said the approach would help increase the availability of quality planting materials and support the expansion of ginger cultivation across the country.

Highlighting the economic potential of the intervention, the BOA managing director said farmers could earn substantial returns from ginger production when provided with the necessary support.

“The people that you’ll call poor farmers or vulnerable farmers, they’re the ones that will be making N70 to N80 million per hectare, not me,” Sotinrin said.

He added that the bank was working with the Federal Government on interventions across other agricultural value chains to improve farmers’ earnings and strengthen food production.

Sotinrin cited the Guaranteed Minimum Price programme for maize, which he said was designed to protect farmers against falling market prices by enabling the government to purchase produce at a guaranteed minimum price.

He also disclosed that BoA was exploring ways to support cassava farmers by collaborating with processors of cassava derivatives to purchase produce left on farms and offer farmers better prices.

The ginger revival programme involves collaboration among the federal government, Kaduna State Government, agricultural institutions, local authorities, traditional leaders and farmer groups.

Also speaking during the visit, the Chairman of Kachia Local Government Area, Dr Daniel Maigari, estimated that the ginger sector had recovered to about 30 per cent of its previous capacity.

He expressed optimism that sustained support could accelerate the recovery within the next two years.

Maigari also highlighted the role of women in ginger farming, saying the programme had set a target of at least 50 per cent female participation. However, he did not provide the exact number of women currently benefiting from the intervention.

The programme is supported by Agrolog, which coordinates participating farmers into clusters and provides extension services to guide cultivation and monitor crop development.

Agrolog’s Operations Manager, Cham Datiyoung Yakubu, said the cluster system was essential for coordinating farmers and ensuring they received support throughout the production process.

“Our role is to provide extension services and coordinate these farmers, which we did. We formed them into clusters,” Yakubu said.

He added that the intervention also covered internally displaced farmers affected by insecurity, with more than 900 displaced farmers included in one cluster.

Yakubu said the farmers were expected to begin harvesting within three weeks of an earlier assessment, adding that security concerns had restricted physical visits to their farms. However, reports from extension monitoring indicated that the crops were developing well.

The heads of two participating groups, Malachy Gadani of Gidan Tagwai Ginger Farmers and Caleb Dallah of Ibika Farmers Group, commended BOA for the intervention, saying it would help farmers recover from losses caused by ginger blight.

One of the beneficiaries, Blessing Ali, also expressed appreciation to the bank for its support.

The 15 farming clusters participating in the programme are Assako 1, Matankadi Farms, Utro Akyi Muli Cooperative, Mothercat, Mission Farmers, CM Cluster, Maigidas, Zisshya, Gidan Tagwai Ginger Farmers, Sakainu Farmers Cooperative, Kachia Urban, Maraba Farmer, Bazachat Farmers, Ibika Farmers Group and Jerry Farms.

The bank said expanding the intervention, improving access to planting materials and strengthening extension services would be central to efforts to restore ginger production and increase farmers’ incomes.