Agriculture
By Aminu Garko
Kano- The Kano State Government said it had established a comprehensive database of farmers and expanded irrigation facilities to boost agricultural productivity and food security over the past three years.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr Danjuma Mahmud, disclosed this on Monday during an interactive session with journalists in Kano.
He said the achievements were guided by the Abba Kabir Yusuf administration’s development blueprint, which set targets and timelines for each sector.
Mahmud said the ministry began by generating a database of farmers at the farm gate level, capturing their names, farm sizes, locations and contact details.
“We tested the data by sending messages to farmers and recorded more than an 82 per cent response rate. This gives us confidence in its reliability,” he said.
He said the database had enabled the government and development partners, including the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, African Development Bank, European Union and IFAD, to plan and implement interventions effectively.
The commissioner said the government demarcated about 1,300km of cattle routes to reduce clashes between farmers and herders. It also repaired irrigation facilities and recovered the Kadawa farm, restoring about 1,230 acres of cultivable and irrigable land.
Mahmud said the state had procured and distributed more than 630 trucks of fertiliser in the last three years, with some given free to farmers. It also received and distributed about 70 trucks of urea, SSP and NPK fertiliser from the federal government.
He said the ministry constructed 72km of rural roads to ease evacuation of produce, intensified livestock vaccination, and introduced climate-smart, drought-resistant and early-maturing seed varieties through partnerships with seed companies.
The state has acquired mechanised equipment, including tractors, combine harvesters, transplanters, spraying machines and rice mills, which will be deployed soon. It also secured solar-powered irrigation pumps for distribution to cooperatives.
Mahmud said Kano, in collaboration with development partners, established 20 milk collection centres with storage and solar facilities, the largest such programme by any state in the country.
He said the government was constructing a 2km dam at Tansosia with capacity for three billion cubic litres of water to irrigate about 1,250 acres. A 14km access road is also being built to aid evacuation of produce.
The commissioner added that 11 small earth dams had been developed across Albasu, Shanono, Gari, Dawakin Kudu, Rogo and Bichi, with a combined irrigation capacity of about 1,200 acres. New designs could expand the area to 2,000 acres.
An independent assessment commissioned by the state government rated the ministry’s implementation of agricultural targets at about 80 per cent, he said.
