The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) is to support 5,000 ginger farmers in Kaduna state with free farming inputs.
Samuel Aende, a representative of NADF stated this on Tuesday at a stakeholders engagement and inputs disbursement to ginger farmers.
He said the support is part of efforts to strengthen ginger farmers who suffered the devastating effect of the blight epidemic in 2023.
According to him, the Ginger Recovery, Advancement and Transformation for Economy Empowerment (GRATE), a federal government initiative under NADF had commenced the screening of the ginger farmers to be supported in seven LGAs in Kaduna.
Aende said the GRATE team is engaging and screening ginger farmers in Kachia, Jaba, Kagarko, Zangon Kataf, Kaura, Jema’a and Sanga Loca government areas.
“After the stakeholders engagement and screening of farmers across the seven LGAs, each farmer is expected to receive; four bags 50kg of NPK fertilizer, two bags of 50kg of Urea fertilizer, 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,” Aende said.
He said the aim of rejuvenating Ginger farming after the devastating effect of the blight epidemic in 2023, which affected
Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa States, and the FCT, is to help with substantial funding for improved and betgingeringer yield.
In his remarks at the occasion, David Jonathan, a representative of the Kaduna Agricultural Development Agency (KADA), , noted that the Ginger support programme launched by NADF, aims at bolstering the ginger value chains and improve the livelihoods of ginger farmers.
He said KADA is proud to be a part of this effort, as it aligns perfectly with the agency’s core mission of empowering rural agricultural communities.
He assured that KADA will work closely with NADF to ensure the success and sustainability of the initiative.
Jonathan recalled that Governor Uba Sani recently flagged off support initiative for smallholder farmers, facilitated by the federal government through NADF in collaboration with the Kaduna state.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Nuhu Dauda, president of National Ginger Farmers Association, commended President Bola Tinubu for his quick intervention to rescue ginger farmers who lost their crops to the epidemic in year 2023.
He said Ginger farmers would have been in serious trouble if Tinubu had not intervened after the pandemic that destroyed ginger farms.
