The Federal Government/International Fund for Agricultural Development Value Chain Development Programme (FG/IFAD-VCDP) has trained 105 rice farmers in Niger State on modern agronomic practices to boost productivity and strengthen food security.
The training, held on Thursday in Washi community, Lavun Local Government Area, is part of the FG/IFAD-VCDP Additional Financing initiative, aimed at expanding Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to newly integrated LGAs.
Hadizat Isah, State Programme Coordinator of the VCDP, explained that the training equips farmers in Lavun with modern techniques that have already improved rice production in other participating LGAs.
“We are here to train farmers, and although the exercise began over three weeks ago, we extended it to Lavun because it recently joined the VCDP platform. Our farmers in Wushishi, Katcha, Mokwa, and Edati now achieve three to four production cycles per year thanks to our interventions, and we hope Lavun farmers will replicate this success,” she said.
The training covered site selection for dry-season farming, land preparation, seed selection, nursery establishment, transplanting, and water and soil management. Trained extension agents will guide the farmers throughout the production cycle and provide inputs and equipment at subsidised rates.
Isah also revealed that VCDP has started constructing aggregation centres and market stores in Lavun to support storage and marketing, noting that communities contribute 10 per cent in-kind, such as providing land and labour.
Prof. Abigael Girji, Lead Consultant for the training from the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, said her team had toured four LGAs—Edati, Katcha, Lavun, and Mokwa—to deliver dry-season GAP instruction and follow up on field activities.
“We advised farmers to choose sites near water sources since dry-season farming relies heavily on irrigation. We also encouraged the use of improved seed varieties, proper fertilizer and herbicide application, and timely water management. Farmers were urged to maintain farm records to evaluate profitability and treat farming as a business enterprise,” she said.
Farmers Mohammed Shaba and Suleiman Idris expressed appreciation for the training, noting that it exposed them to techniques that could significantly improve their yields compared to traditional methods previously used in the community.
