National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) has concluded plans to support 5,000 ginger farmers in Kaduna State with free farming inputs to rejuvenate them against the devastating effects of the blight epidemic in 2023.
The Ginger Recovery, Advancement and Transformation for Economy Empowerment (GRATE) which is a federal government initiative was part of the Ginger Blight Task Force of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security under NADF that commenced a stakeholders’ engagement and screening in seven local government areas in the state.
The exercise will last for three days.
At the stakeholders’ engagement and input disbursement to the affected ginger farmers, a representative of NADF, Samuel Aende, said the GRATE team was engaging and screened ginger farmers in Kachia, Jaba, Kagarko, Zangon Kataf, Kaura, Jema’a and Sanga LGAs.
“After the engagement and screening of the farmers, each farmer is expected to receive four 50kg bags of NPK 20.10.10 fertiliser, two 50kg bags of Urea fertiliser, one bag of 25kg bag of maize and sorghum hybrid seeds, and per hectare dosage of herbicides and crop protection products including Fungicide, Insecticide for crop rotation,” he said.
Aende said the aim of rejuvenating ginger farming after the blight epidemic in 2023 which affected Kaduna, Plateau, and Nasarawa states, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is for improved ginger yield.
In his remarks, David Jonathan of Kaduna Agricultural Development Agency (KADA’s) said “The ginger support programme launched by NADF, in partnership with our agency, aims to bolster the ginger value chains and improve the livelihoods of our ginger producers.”
The representative of Kachia LGA chairman, Victoria Saidu, who doubles as the director of forestry, said they are working in partnership with the state government and NADF to ensure good yield from the harvest of ginger.