No fewer than 5,000 ginger farmers are to receive free farming inputs as support from the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) as part of efforts to rejuvenate the farmers after the devastating effect of the Blight epidemic in 2023.
The Ginger Recovery, Advancement and Transformation for Economy Empowerment (GRATE) which is a Federal Government initiative was part of the Ginger Blight Task Force of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security under NADF that commenced a stakeholders engagement and screening exercise in seven local government areas in Kaduna State that will last for three days.
Speaking at the stakeholders engagement and inputs disbursement to affected ginger farmers, a representative of NADF Mr Samuel Aende said the GRATE team was engaging and screening ginger farmers in Kachia, Jaba, Kagarko, Zangon Kataf, Kaura, Jema’a and Sanga local government areas.
“After the Stakeholders engagement and screening of farmers across the 7 LGAs, each farmer is expected to receive four bags 50kg of NPK 20.10.10 fertilizer, 2 bags of 50kg of Urea fertilizer, one bag of 25kg bag of Maize and Sorghum hybrid seeds and per hectare dosage of Herbicides and crop protection products including Fungicide, Insecticide for crop rotation,” he added.
According to him, the aim of rejuvenating ginger farming after the devastating effect of the Blight epidemic in 2023 which affected Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa States, and the FCT with substantial funding is for improved and better ginger yield.
In his remarks also, David Jonathan from Kaduna Agricultural Development Agency (KADA) noted that the ginger support programme launched by NADF in partnership with the agency aims to further bolster the ginger value chains and improve the livelihoods of ginger producers.
He stated that KADA was proud to be a part of the effort as it aligns perfectly with the agency’s core mission of empowering rural agricultural communities.
While stating KADA’s unwavering commitment to work closely with NADF to ensure the success and sustainability of the initiative, Jonathan recalled that Governor Uba Sani recently flagged off support initiative for small holder farmers, facilitated by the Federal Government through the NADF and in collaboration with the Kaduna State Government through KADA.
Also speaking to newsmen, President of National Ginger Farmers Association (NGFA), Nuhu Dauda thanked President Bola Tinubu for his quick intervention to rescue ginger farmers who lost their crops to epidemic in 2023.
According to him, “should by mistake this ginger pandemic erupted and Tinubu was not the president, we would have been in a serious trouble.”
Representative of Kachia LGA Chairman, Victoria Saidu who doubled as the director of forestry said the local government is working round the clock in partnership with the state government and NADF to ensure good yield from cultivation and harvest of ginger.
She urged participants and beneficiaries to make “judicious use of the information and inputs disbursed to them so that they can make profits.”
Meanwhile, one of the beneficiaries, Mrs Gloria Thomas, thanked NADF and the state government for the quick intervention in aid of the ginger farmers.
She lamented that “majority of ginger farmers who borrowed money from comercial banks to cultivate the crop lost a lot of money to the epidemic, and are yet to recover.
“I must say that this intervention is coming at the right time, and I commend the Federal Government and NADF for that. I believe this is a good head start for ginger farmers.”
