Ginger farmers who suffered losses as a result of the blight epidemic last March would have every cause to smile, as they approach a new planting season. This follows the support from the federal government, which is to be complemented by the Kaduna State government. To start with, under the aegis of the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), the federal government has put in place a Ginger Recovery, Advancement, and Transformation for Economy Empowerment (GRATE) initiative.
Through the initiative the government has undertaken screening of affected farmers with a purpose to giving them support in the forthcoming planting season. In Kaduna State the Kaduna Agricultural Development Agency (KADA) is collaborating with NADF on the federal initiative.
A representative of NADF, Samuel Aende, at a stakeholders’ engagement meeting in the state, noted that screening of farmers and stakeholders engagement ahead of the 2024 planting season has begun.
“The aim is rejuvenating ginger farming after the devastating effect of the Blight epidemic in 2023, which affected farmers in Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa and the FCT and farmers would get substantial funding for improved and better ginger yield” he had said.
The local governments to be assisted, according to Aende, are “Kachia, Jaba, Kagarko, Zangon Kataf, Kaura, Jema’a and Sanga”.
Not only that, the NADL official said, under the initiative , farmers will also receive fertilisers, seeds and crop protection products. He added that this was being done to enhance crop rotation on their farms.
The Kaduna state government will also augment the federal support. It has , therefore, promised the affected ginger farmers in the seven local government areas in the state of additional support from the state government to cushion the effect of their losses.
The epidemic was announced in March with the report that the affected farmers lost about N12 billion in the process. The minister for state in the Federal ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi had expressed concern that Nigeria may lose its position as the world’s second-largest ginger producer following a 70 percent loss of the crop.
The disclosure followed the outcry of ginger farmers who claimed they incurred financial losses amounting to N12bn due to an outbreak of ginger blight, in Kaduna, Nasarawa and Plateau States, as well as the FCT. The initiative being championed by NADL and KADA promises to mitigate the losses and turn around the fortune of the ginger farmers for good.
Nuhu Dauda, president of the National Ginger Farmers Association, was particularly glad about the support from the government. Dauda said the support from President Bola Tinubu’s administration came at a time his association’s members had lost hope.
The government at the federal and state levels were equally concerned that the position of Nigeria in the production of ginger would be lost, if prompt support was not given just as the foreign exchange earned from the product would fizzle away. NADL will attend to other affected farmers in other states too.
