Governor Uba Sani has increased funding, introduced new agricultural schemes and has given more inputs to farmers than any government in the history of Kaduna State.
The state Commissioner of Agriculture, Alhaji Murtala Dabo, disclosed this at the quarterly ministerial press briefing in Kaduna, adding that the governor has not only increased the budgetary allocation to the sector but has also distributed free fertilisers and farm implements to farmers and their cooperatives in the last two years.
Dabo pointed out that the amount earmarked for agriculture in the 2025 budget is N74.2 billion.
According to him, the amount represents 9.36% of the total budget, adding that 97.7% of the agric sector budget was earmarked for capital projects and only 2.3% was allocated to recurrent expenditure, reflecting a strong emphasis on long-term, impactful investments.
The commissioner pointed out that only N1.48 billion was allocated to agriculture by the previous government in 2023, adding that the N74.2 billion allocated for this year is an exponential growth of 5,000%.
He said: “Collectively, the budgetary allocations to agricultural activities in the Ministries of Environment, Education and Human Services have pushed the allocation to agriculture to over 12% of the 2025 budget, making Kaduna State the only subnational to meet and exceed the 10% Malabo Declaration benchmark.’’
He said that the governor has distributed over 500 trucks of free fertiliser to verified small-holder farmers under the Agricultural Input Supply Support, the largest agricultural input support programme in Kaduna’s history.
‘’Under the Tallafin Noma (A Koma Gona) initiative, 69,000 small-holder farmers were supported with quality maize seeds and agrochemicals during the rain-fed season,’’ he added.
He said: “In addition, Kaduna State government distributed free agricultural implements and inputs to cooperatives, comprising a 18 horse-power tiller, an 18 horse-power, 3-inch solar-powered irrigation pumping machine and a 13 horse-power, 2-inch solar-powered water irrigation machine, and a gasoline-powered water irrigation pumps to each cooperative to boost year-round farming.
‘’Each cooperative was also given 30 bags of Urea and NPK fertilisers, one motorised knapsack sprayer, one carton of herbicide and another carton of pesticide.’’
The commissioner further said that under macro-mechanisation, we have procured a fleet of tractors to enhance mechanization.
A new public-private partnership framework has been developed to operationalize these tractors via revived mechanization hubs, he added .
According to him, the scheme will be purely private sector-driven but the tractors will be hired to farmers at highly subsidized rates so that the model will be sustainable.
Dabo said that revenue acquiring from these private operators would be used to acquire more tractors, arguing that there will be a penetration of this mechanisation to all nooks and cranny of the state over the years.
The state is also developing the Agricultural Quality Assurance Centre (AQAC) with the support of the Afrexim Bank, which is the first of its kind in Northern Nigeria, he said.
The commissioner said that the facility will complement the Special Agricultural Processing Zone, adding: “It will ensure that our agricultural produce meets both domestic and international quality standards.’’
Dabo added that the AQAC will enhance Kaduna’s competitiveness in the global market, particularly under the AfCFTA framework.
‘’This means that our farmers and agro-industries will not only produce more but will produce better—meeting the highest standards required for export and premium markets,’’ he said.
