Kaduna State Government says it is providing needed inputs, skills and knowledge for farmers to optimize production of Maize, Rice and Ginger value chains.
The Director, Agric-Services in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mrs Jummai Ambi gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.
Ambi spoke shortly after the close of a three- day training workshop for Extension Service Workers in the state.
She said that the state government was providing enabling environment for farmers to meet their target of seven tonnes of Rice and Maize per hectare of land
The event was organised by an NGO, Synergos Nigeria under the State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA) platform with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The event with the theme: “Good Agriculture Practices (GAP)” Workshop for Extension Service Workers, attracted participants from Kaduna, Kogi and Benue States where Synergos is implementing a three year programme.
Ambi said that extension workers needed the training because they are key in the implementation of the State Government’s Agriculture sector Road-map.
“The extension workers need information on modern farming, as subsistence and traditional method of Agriculture is no more sustainable.
” Farmers need modern techniques to get the best out put and the sector is now driven by technology and innovations,” She said.
She said the training would help farmers to upgrade their knowledge and skills to cultivate and harvest up to seven tonnes of Maize, Rice and Ginger within one hectare of land as against the current situation.
” The participants are expected to step down same training to their colleagues in the field and to reach out to the farmers,” she said.
Ambi said as a result of poor knowledge of land size, it is difficult for farmers to know the amount of seeds and the types to procure for the planting.
The official said the training would go a long way in supporting the farmers to understand these skills to improve land performance for better yield.
The director commended the NGO for supporting the state and expressed the ministry’s readiness to partner with Synergos and all stakeholders in the effort to tackle food security , gender and nutrition issues in the state.
Earlier, SPA’s head of performance, Seun Ojo said the extension workers were brought together to get training on Good Agriculture Practices (GAP).
Ojo said that the trainees drawn from three states of Kogi, Benue and Kaduna would go back and step down same skills and knowledge to their colleagues and smallholder farmers in their respective states.
She said the training was also done for the extension workers to understand the best way to support farmers along value chain identified by their various states to optimize production.
“We have Cassava, Yam, Rice Maize and Ginger and each state has done their Action Plan for stepping down the training and they have identified the number of facilitators and the extension workers they want to train.
“All these we want to do between now and the month of July and we are going to monitor them to know the impact of the training on the activities of the small holder farmers,“She said.
A cross section of the participants expressed their readiness to replicate same knowledge and skill to their colleagues and the farmers to improve crop yield in the their various states. (NAN)
