For generations, cassava has been a staple in the Kaltungo emirate, providing food and income for local families. However, a recently introduced innovative method of growing cassava has revolutionised the industry, boosting yields by over 60% and significantly increasing farmers’ incomes in Kaltungo emirate of Kaltungo Local government Area in Gombe State.
Led by His Highness, the Emir of Kaltungo, Engineer Saleh Muhammad, this groundbreaking approach involves planting cassava stems vertically on ridges, departing from traditional horizontal methods. The emir adopted this technique after learning from Taraba State cassava farmers two years ago.
“I was impressed by the success of Taraba State cassava farmers who had been practicing this method for years.”
“Traditionally, we cut cassava stems into 30 cm segments, planting them vertically with only one node buried. But with this new method, we plant stems horizontally, allowing multiple nodes to germinate and produce multiple cassava tubers,” the emir said.
He also explained that this innovative technique has transformed the lives of Kaltungo farmers, offering hope for a brighter future.
On the question of what other thing is needed to be done on the farm as part of innovation of planting cassava apart from planting the cassava nodes horizontally, the emir said, “All you need to do is create ridges that are bigger than the normal ridges used in the traditional method of planting cassava. Basically, the bigger ridge allows multiple nodes to go deep into the soil, resulting in long and large cassava tubers at the end of the season.”
Engr. Saleh explained that despite being the pioneer who introduced and supervised the new method of growing cassava among farmers in his emirate, he did not take any portion of the cassava harvested nor any share of the profit from the sale of the cassava.
“As you know, last year I convinced farmers from Turebalam communities under my emirate to cultivate about 20 hectares using the new method of growing the cassava,” the emir said.
He added, “I would often visit the farms with them to supervise the work, as it was agreed to be a community effort, just as you see me now supervising this farm.
“At the end of the season, the harvest was fantastic, and I asked them to share it among themselves. I didn’t take anything, apart from the beans I had planted in the farm, because my goal was to encourage my people to adopt the new method and help them eradicate poverty.”
Speaking to Weekend Trust, Umar Usman Kaltungo, one of the cassava growers in Kaltungo who embraced the e method of planting the cassava last year explained that cassava farming has become a community system of farming within Kaltungo emirate where youth engaged themselves in groups and cultivate a reasonable size of farmland for cassava growing using the new method.
“It’s is simple and profitable. We usually do it in groups; in that way it is easy to cultivate a big size of farmland at a time. Every community was set to cultivate at least 1,000 hectares of land,” he said.
He added, “The new method is easy; all we did was planting the 30 cm segments of cassava vertically into the ridges from both sides. At the end of the season the result was fantastic; we had enough food to eat and we made enough profit to take care of our families. For this reason, I want to use this opportunity to thank the Emir of Kaltungo, Engineer Saleh Muhammad, for this innovation that has empowered both youth and women in our community.
“Already we have started local production of garri both for our consumption and for commercial purposes. We are now doing it manually, but we are thinking of purchasing garri processing machines for commercial size. Our hope is that by next year we will be able to bring some investors that can collaborate with us and establish a cassava processing company here in Kaltungo.”
Speaking on the challenges encountered during the last season, another farmer, Malam Salisu Abubakar Kaltungo, explained that their major challenge is how to get good cassava seed to grow. He said, “Our major challenge for now is how to get high quality cassava seed to grow, because virtually all the cassava we had planted this season and even last season came from Taraba State.
“We are also appealing to Gombe State, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Nigeria Cassava Growers Association to come to our aid and give us the necessary support to venture into a full-scale commercial cassava farming in Gombe State as we are committed to do,” he said.
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