International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in collaboration with other agricultural development partners has distributed free improved seeds to 2,000 smallholder farmers in Kano State ahead of the 2020 planting season.
In his address, ICRISAT’s Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Hakeem Ajeigbe, stated that the global trend has shown that there might be food shortage following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ajeigbe said based on the suggestion of a director from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the institute contacted various agricultural development partners that willingly bought the idea and donated the seeds being given to farmers as palliatives.
He added that, each beneficiary would be given hectare-worth seeds for a crop.
The state Deputy Governor, who is also the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, said that the state government had similar provision for farmers.
Meanwhile, 100 smallholder farmers in Kura, Garun Malam and Madobi local government areas of Kano State, have benefitted from the federal government’s special intervention ahead of this year’s farming season.
The farmers were each given assorted farm inputs to boost their productive capacity so as to be able to contribute meaningfully in the federal government’s drive for food security in the country.
Among the items distributed to the farmers by the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Sen. Basheer Garba Mohammed, were water pump machines, assorted seedlings, chemicals, knapsacks, among some other essential inputs.
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