Women vegetable farmers in Gidan Duna community, Ikara Local Government Area of Kaduna state, have lauded HortiNigeria for enhancing their capacity and productivity in vegetable farming.
Leader of the Gidan Duna Women Multipurpose Association, Mary Yakubu, made the commendation in an interview with journalists when Mohammed Salasi, Programme Director of HortiNigeria visited the community on August 26, 2024.
Yakubu said women have benefited immensely from HortiNigeria’s training on vegetable farming skills and techniques.
She added that the new techniques, especially, in tomatoes cabbage, pepper, okra and onions are a game changer for the women.
“The training by HortiNigeria is a game changer in our farming activities. It has opened our eyes to new skills and techniques of vegetable farming and better harvest.
“We are very grateful for the HortiNigeria for empowering women”, she said,
She however lamented that one of the challenges they faced, is lack of water during the dry season which makes it difficult for vegetable
farmers in the community.
Also in an interview shortly after interacting with the farmers, Salasi, said his visit was a follow-up to the training conducted for the farmers some months ago.
Salasi had earlier visited the Learning site at the Faculty of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) and SIMKAY Foods Limited , Zaria, where he was taken round the tomatoes processing company.
He explained that HortiNigeria was initiated in 2021 and is being funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Nigeria. “Our mission is simple; we have engaged with these communities for years. We engage communities, organise them, and try to ensure that they can increase their productivity, yield, and income through some basic practices such as how to produce tomatoes, onions, pepper, and Okro”, Salasi said.
He noted that the farmers have their practices, but HortiNigeria “developed some improved practices on how they will produce and yield better by adopting eco-efficient best practices.”
Speaking further, Salasi said his visit to Simkay Foods, one of HortiNigeria’s partners would offtake the produce from the farmers to ensure that post-harvest losses are significantly reduced or if possible, eliminated within Kaduna.
“Hopefully, we will have more of these SMEs off-take tomatoes and other products, so we don’t have to waste anymore.
“We have no reason to waste. We don’t have enough, so we cannot afford to waste vegetables, especially tomatoes. That is one of the project’s main goals”, the programme director said.
He said he was impressed with the transformation that had taken place among the farmers.
“We are really happy and excited that they have not only accepted the new practices but adopted them.
“You will think that these farms are managed by experts. We have seen what a young man has been able to do to produce tomatoes.
“We have seen a very active women group in the community that managed tomato and cabbage demo-plot that are very impressive and they are looking forward to a good harvest”, Salasi said.
According to him, the programme is an all-inclusive value change – from planting and harvest to the market, aimed at ensuring that farmers do not suffer post harvest losses or are underpriced.
He appealed to governments at all levels to prioritise the provision of water for irrigation farming to boost food production.
Salasi noted that, “Water is an important resource and if we want this country to feed itself, we really have to be very serious with irrigation.
“We have to make sure that farmers are able to produce during dry season. During the rainy season, there are challenges of eratic rainfall and flooding.
“So I will encourage that government should prioritise the upgrading of irrigation schemes which it is doing, but it needs to be expanded.”
The four year programme being implemented by consortiums, led by International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC), aims at empowering smallholder farmers, especially women and youths.
The programme is being implemented in Kaduna, Kano, Ogun and Oyo states.
