The Sasakawa Africa Association has flagged off the distribution of farm inputs to 1,785 farmers for the 2024 wet season farming farmers in 17 local government areas of Niger State.
The Country Director, Sasakawa Africa Association, Dr Godwin Atsar, said this at the flag-off distribution of the farm inputs in Minna, the state capital of Niger State.
The distribution is under a project titled, “Improving Farmers Resilience and Upscaling Productivity Incomes and Livelihood in Rice, Maize, Soyabean, Cowpea, and Vegetable Value Chains in Niger State.
The project is being funded by AGRA and implemented by a consortium of four organisations under the leadership of the Sasakawa Africa Association.
Dr. Godwin Atsar, who was represented by Professor Sani Miko, Special Adviser to the Country Director, listed the benefiting local government areas such as Agaie, Agwara, Bida, Borgu, Bosso, Chanchaga, and Edati.
Other council areas, he said, are Gbako, Gurara, Katcha, Lapai, Lavun, Mokwa, Paiko, Suleja, Tafa, and Wushishi, aimed at increasing the productivity of farmers in Niger State.
He said the distribution was an annual event where farmers are trained and given quality inputs and seeds to establish demonstration plots to plant crops such as rice, maize, soybean, and cowpea for others to learn from.
“We are all aware agriculture is facing serious challenges and the food crisis. All our efforts now are to make sure there is food security. We cannot make any headway if farmers don’t use quality inputs.
“The beneficiaries are to establish demonstration plots guided by extension agents using quality inputs and seeds to produce food,” he said.
Similarly, the Deputy Director of Sasakawa, Dr Gambo Abdulhamid, appreciated AGRA for funding the activities since 2017, adding that, together with Sasakawa, a lot of progress had been made in promoting value chain extension.
He said the project, funded by AGRA and implemented by Sasakawa, had worked with 556,250 farmers from 2017 to date in the state and aimed at increasing farmers productivity, support in processing, and market linkages.
Abdulhamid said 1,785 farmers had been trained on different agro-good practices to use the free inputs given to them in their various demonstration plots, applying what they learned to increase productivity.
In his remarks, the state governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, said his administration’s agricultural revolution was geared towards solving the food crisis in the state and the country at large.
Bago, represented by the Niger State Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Nawa Bosso, said the intervention by Sasakawa, AGRA, and other partners will boost the livelihoods of farmers, create jobs for youths, and make the state agriculture hub.
While appreciating the donors of the farm inputs, Malama Saratu Abubakar promised to use the farm inputs judiciously to increase productivity and bumper harvests.
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