Harvesting has begun in the National Land Development Agency (NALDA)’s farm estates across the states.
The Agency, which has embarked on the establishment of farm estates across the country to boost the nation’s food security drive, has achieved tremendous success in both farms built and run solely by the agency and those run in collaboration with private and public institutions across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
Rice and maize harvesting and storage activities are going on in Niger, Nasarawa, Benue, and Oyo States.
These harvests are predicted to increase the country’s grain stock (maize and rice), which will have a significant impact on the downstream value chains for the feed, poultry, and home products industries.
As evidenced by data from the states during the media tour of harvest activities at farm sites across the states, NALDA harvests will help to reduce the gap in domestic production and supply of rice and maize.
Equipment, Harvest Excite Young Farmers in Bauchi
In Bauchi State, Maize harvest is ongoing at the well-equipped NALDA farm estate located at Galambi.
Although the overall land area is 500 hectares, 50 hectares were cultivated due to a 15-day rain delay and a late start to activities.
The farm is equipped with four tractors, two maize threshers, planters, boom sprayers, maize harvesters, and a finished grain warehouse.
The Bauchi State Coordinator for NALDA is Jalaludeen Muhammad Mu’Azu. He said that the NALDA farm would boost significant production in the area because no farms in such areas possessed such machinery.
According to Mu’Azu, the crop’s success has already piqued the interest of the farmers in the surrounding farming communities.
Mr Mu’azu told journalists at the harvest site that the complete farm operation was entirely mechanized, from harrowing to planting to spraying fertilizer with a 400-litre capacity boom sprayer and machinery for weeding and harvesting.
Speaking on the harvest he said: “We have just started our harvest and you know this is the first time we are farming here. From the stories that we heard from people, there was a particular place they showed us that since they came here 40 years ago, they have never seen maize production that reaches our own. They were very amazed.
Expressing his excitement, he said: “As a young man working in a mechanized farm, I feel very happy. For you to see a mechanized farm where you use only machines for everything, you have to look very far, is very rare around us here and I see a very bright future because you will be able to cover a very wide area of land within a very short period.”
Over 1000 metric tonnes of maize is expected from the farm.
Great Maize Harvest in Niger
With maize grown on 85 hectares in this first season, continued harvesting has revealed a significant potential for thousands of metric tonnes of crop.
The completely mechanized farm is located in Tunga Gana, Paikoro LGA.
Although harvest and bagging are ongoing, maize harvested on the ground is remarkable to produce significant volume from the site.
The state Administrator, NALDA, Niger State, Illiya Bala Manta, described the ongoing harvest as very good especially because the entire process is fully mechanised, something he said has also attracted a lot of interest from the youth in the community.
“The majority of what we are doing here is mechanized, but we have also engaged approximately 50 women who will help assemble maize in regions where we may face obstacles with the machines. We have also involved about 100 youths from the beginning of field preparation until harvest depending on the operations,” he said.
Mr. Manta said the intention of the state is to extend more production in the upcoming season, possibly covering 400 hectares if the headquarters allowed.
He also indicated that plans are also in the pipeline to commence 100 hectares of dry season farming in another location.
The farm’s manager, Mustapha Haruna Ndadama, called his time working there a “very nice experience so far.”
“Since we started the farm operations in May and all the agronomic practices end in September and now we’re harvesting. The most important aspect of it is the innovation. You can see every activity done with machines only a few places where we had challenges that we engage people to do it manually.
“The new innovations brought to us in Niger help us to boost harvest and you can see farmers around coming because they’re seeing something they have not seen before,” he said.
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