The Kaduna State government on Saturday commenced the distribution of free agricultural implements and inputs to cooperatives in order to enhance year-round farming.
Comprising 10 members, each cooperative was given a package that consisted of a 18-horse power tiller, an 18-horse power 3-inch solar-powered irrigation pumping machine, a 13-horse power 2-inch solar-powered water irrigation machine, and a gasoline-powered water irrigation pump.
Each cooperative was also given 30 bags of Urea and NPK fertilisers, which translates to three bags per member, one motorised knapsack sprayer, one carton of herbicide and a carton of pesticide.
It will be recalled that Governor Uba Sani had launched the Dry Season Agricultural Empowerment Programme at an elaborate ceremony at Murtala Muhammed Square in Kaduna on February 16.
The distribution of the farming implements commenced last Saturday as the Commissioner of Agriculture, Alhaji Murtala Mohammed Dabo, gave out the items to benefitting cooperatives at the premises of the ministry’s central warehouse at Dankade village.
Speaking on the event, the commissioner said that this is the first time that the government is distributing free farm implements on this massive scale in the history of Kaduna State, describing the support as unprecedented.
Dabo disclosed that the government’s kind gesture was meant to ameliorate the pains that farmers go through to irrigate their farmlands, especially due to the rise in petrol price.
He said: ‘’Fuelling their pumping machines on a weekly basis eats into the profit margins that they would have naturally made.
“This massive support that is coming from His Excellency, the Governor, is going to help greatly in bringing down the cost of production, which should ultimately bring down prices.”
The commissioner disclosed that the Uba Sani administration has also procured a combined harvester which will help farmers in reducing their cost of production.
He said: ‘’Last year, we had to go to Borno State to hire. The wheat farmers in Galma were paying and queueing for their turn. Today, these machines are ready to move to the field and start harvesting.”
According to him, the benefitting cooperatives comprise real farmers who were chosen irrespective of their political affiliation or ethno-religious identity.
Speaking to journalists, Malam Garba, the Chairman of the Dry Season Farmers Cooperative Society, Zaria, said: ‘’Today is a day of joy to all farmers in Kaduna State. Since Kaduna State was created, there has never been this kind of government intervention. We have been given all that is required to enable dry season farming free.”
The chairman, who advised beneficiaries to put the implements into good use, further said that they should not sell the items, adding, ‘’Government spent a lot of billions to purchase them and gave us free of charge.’’
