Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) in collaboration with Jigawa State government has started training of 2,000 agric extension workers to enhance modern farming practices in the state.
At the flag-off in Dutse, the managing director of NIRSAL, Alhaji Abbas Umar Masanawa, said the programme was aimed at promoting the use of modern farming techniques to enhance productivity.
He said besides the extension workers, leaders of wheat farmers groups under the 2023/24 national wheat farming programme were also participating in the training and were all expected to pass knowledge of the modern techniques to other famers to achieve bumper harvest this year.
The managing director who was represented by Mr Suleiman Ibrahim said 355 extension agents and 706 farmers cluster leaders from Kiyawa, Birnin Kudu, Ringim, Hadejia and Kazaure took part in the first phase of the training.
“The participants are expected to transmit the knowledge gained along with the training materials received to the members of their respective clusters of over 800 wheat farmers groups with members of 50 people each to a total of 40,000 wheat farmers registered under the state/national 2023 wheat production project,” he said.
Jigawa State commissioner for agriculture, Muttaka Namadi, said the state government was ever ready to join hands to improve agricultural production.