Dry Season Farming: Jigawa Farmers Cultivates 200,000 Hectares of Rice
By: Usman Mohammed Zaria
Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa State says his administration has succeeded in supporting farmers to cultivate over 200,000 hectares of rice in this dry Season and expected to harvest over 800,000 metric tones.
He stated this while inspecting some rice farms along Hadejia Valley in Ringim, Taura, Auyo and Hadejia local government areas of the state.
According to him, agriculture is one of the key sector of his 12 point agenda and it will be use for poverty eradication, jobs creation, food security, building local resilient and sustainable economic development.
Mallam Umar Namadi explained that, the farmers where supported with various farm inputs in subsidized price, as well as soft loans which enable them to cultivate these large farm lands.
He pointed out that, they are targeted to produce 800,000 metric tones in this dry season and also hope to produce similar in the upcoming raining season.
He noted that, the state will produce 1,600,000 metric tones which is equivalent to 27 percent of the annual rice needed in Nigeria.
Namadi however told the farmers that, his government is aware of the high coast of fuel which negatively affect their coast of production, promised to collaborate with federal government to get subsidized fuel for them.
He also promised to source Solar Powered Water Pump Generators at a subsidized price to the farmers in order to reduce their cost of production and increase their profit.
The Governor commended the farmers for demonstrating their commitment to their business which he described as encouraging.
Speaking on behalf of the farmers, Alhaji Dauda Ali Kura explained that, their major problem in this dry season farming was high cost of fuel, as he alone spend over 1 million naira on fuel weekly.
Kura called on the Governor to provide them with an alternatives to enable them remain in the farming activities.
