The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has concluded plans to support about 5000 Ginger Farmers with free farming inputs after the devastating effect of the Blight epidemic in Southern Kaduna.
The Ginger Recovery, Advancement, and Transformation for Economy Empowerment (GRATE) is a Federal Government initiative as part of the Ginger Blight Task Force of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security under NADF, which commenced a stakeholders’ three-day engagement and screening exercise in seven Councils across the state.
Speaking at the stakeholders’ engagement and inputs disbursement to affected ginger farmers on Tuesday, Samuel Aende, a representative of NADF, said the GRATE team is engaging and screening ginger farmers in Kachia, Jaba, Kagarko, Zangon Kataf, Kaura, Jema’a, and Sanga Local Government Areas of the state.
He said after the Stakeholders’ engagement and screening of farmers across the 7 LGAs, each farmer is expected to receive: Four bags of 50kg of NPK 20.10.10 fertilizer, 2 bags of 50kg of Urea fertilizer, one bag of 25kg 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 is to rejuvenate Ginger farming after the devastating effect of the Blight epidemic in 2023 affects Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa States, and the FCT with substantial funding for improved and better Ginger yield.
In his remarks, David Jonathan from Kaduna Agricultural Development Agency (KADA) noted that the ginger support program launched by NADF, in partnership with our agency, KADA aims to bolster the ginger value chains and improve the livelihoods of their ginger producers.
He said KADA is proud to be part of this effort, as it aligns perfectly with their core mission of empowering rural agricultural communities.
He expressed KADA’s unwavering commitment to work closely with NADF to ensure the success and sustainability of the initiative.
National Ginger Farmers Association, Nuhu Dauda, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his quick intervention to rescue ginger farmers who lost their crops to the epidemic in the year 2023.
The Representative of Kachia council chairman, Victoria Saidu, who doubled as the director of forestry also said they are working round the clock in partnership with the state government and NADF to ensure a good yield from the growth and harvest of ginger.
She urged the participants and beneficiaries to make judicious use of the information and inputs disbursed to them so that they can make profits.
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