Kaduna State Government has commenced the distribution of free agricultural implements and inputs including free fertilisers and pesticides to farmer cooperative societies in order to enhance year-round farming.
The distribution was carried out by the state commissioner for agriculture, Mohammed Dabo, on behalf of the state government at the ministry’s central warehouse at Dankade village on Saturday.
According to him, each cooperative comprising 10 members was given a package that consisted of an 18-horsepower tiller, an 18-horsepower 3-inch solar-powered irrigation pumping machine, a 13-horsepower 2-inch solar-powered water irrigation machine, and a gasoline-powered water irrigation pump.
The beneficiaries were also given 30 bags of urea and NPK fertilisers, which translates to three bags per member, one motorised knapsack sprayer, one carton of herbicide, and another carton of pesticide.
It was gathered that the distribution is a follow-up to the launch of dry season farming by the state governor, Uba Sani, on February 16.
Speaking at the event, the commissioner said that this is the first time that the government was distributing free farm implements on this massive scale to farmers, describing the support as unprecedented.
Mr Dabo disclosed that the government’s kind gesture is to ameliorate the pains that farmers go through to irrigate their farmlands, especially due to the rise in petrol price.
“Fuelling their pumping machines on a weekly basis eats into the profit margins that they would have naturally made.
“This massive support that is coming from His Excellency, the Governor, is going to help greatly in bringing down the cost of production, which should ultimately bring down prices,’’ he said.
The commissioner explained that the Uba Sani administration has also procured a combined harvester, which will help farmers in reducing their cost of production.
“Last year, we had to go to Borno State to hire. The wheat farmers in Galma were paying and queuing for their turn. Today, these machines are ready to move to the field and start harvesting,’’ he added.
According to him, the benefitting cooperatives comprise real farmers who were chosen irrespective of their political affiliations or ethno-religious identities.
Speaking to journalists, Malam Garba, the Chairman of Dry Season Farmers Cooperative Society Zaria, said that ‘’Today is a day of joy to all farmers in Kaduna State.
“Since Kaduna State was created, there has never been this kind of government intervention. We have been given all that is required to enable dry season farming free,’’ he said.
The chairman, who advised beneficiaries to put the implements into good use, further said that they should not sell the items, adding that, “the government spent a lot of billions to purchase them and gave us free of charge”.
