Kano state governor, Abba Yusuf on Monday launched agricultural intervention in agro processing facilities and farm inputs for 6,200 smallholder farmers under the state Agro-Pastoral Development Project/Sasakawa Africa Association Crop Value chain intervention.
This is contained in a statement issued by the project’s Communication Specialist, Mr Ameen Yassar, in Kano on Monday.
The project is funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Lives and Livelihood Funds (LLF) and the state government.
The support, which aims to strengthen agricultural productivity, comprises units of power tillers, hammer mills, rice mills, rice hullers, rice threshers, maize threshers, traddle pumps and multi-crop threshers, among others.
Yusuf also launched the second phase of the state Agro Pastoral Development Project’s Ram Fattening and Small Ruminants Reproduction schemes for 2,357 women and youths.
Small ruminants play a vital role in the food and nutrition security of millions of poor rural dwellers in Kano, Nigeria’s most populous state, serving as sources of meat, milk and skin.
Also launched by the governor during the occasion was the distribution of free Aflasafe, a bioprotectant for use on groundnut farms to reduce aflatoxin contamination to 1, 200 farmers, under the state Agro Pastoral Development Project/KNARDA Legumes Value chain intervention.
Aflatoxins can cause liver cancer and other health challenges in human beings.
Speaking during the ceremony in Kano, Yusuf said the interventions were in tandem with his administration’s resolve to improve lives and livelihoods.
“Our target is to achieve food sufficiency and sustained employment generation to our teeming youths through agricultural activities, development of additional cultivable land and increase in livestock production to make our economy very resilient,” he said.
The governor restated his administration’s resolve to revamp agriculture in view of its importance to the economy.
He expressed appreciation to the Islamic Development Bank and the Lives and Livelihood Funds for their support towards making life better for citizens of the state.
The Managing Director of KNARDA, Dr Faruk Kurawa, told the governor that target beneficiaries of the interventions are mainly peasant farmers from the 44 local government areas of the state.
Kurawa said that the support was a tip of the iceberg, as the state government was committed to improving the wellbeing of the citizenry.
The state Project Coordinator, Ibrahim Muhammad, said that since inception, the Kano Agro-Pastoral Development Project has invested heavily in sustainable development of livestock and selected crop value chains.
Muhammad said that the objective was to contribute to poverty alleviation and strengthening of food security of low income earners.
