Kaduna Procures Farming Implements to Boost Food Production

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government has procured 500 power tillers, 10,000 solar-powered water pumps, and a fleet of tractors to boost mechanisation.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Murtala Dabo, disclosed this at the quarterly ministerial press briefing at the Government House in Kaduna.

Dabo said the tractors would be deployed through a public-private partnership to revitalised mechanisation hubs across the state.

He said the irrigation infrastructure is being revived with ₦200 million earmarked for key rehabilitation projects.

Dabo said further that over 500 trucks of fertiliser were distributed to verified smallholder farmers in what he described as the most extensive input support programme in the state’s history.

“Additionally, 69,000 farmers received improved maize seeds and agrochemicals under the Tallafin Noma (A Koma Gona) initiative, while more than 100,000 bags of fertilizer were distributed free for dry season farming,” he said.

The commissioner added that the state government has also distributed  free agricultural implements and inputs to cooperatives.

According to him, some of the implements include comprising 18 horse-power tiller; 18 horse power 3-inch solar-powered irrigation pumping machine; 13 horse-power 2-inch solar-powered water irrigation machine, and a gasoline powered water irrigation pumps .

The commissioner said: “Each cooperative was also given 30 bags of Urea and NPK fertilizers, one motorised knapsack sprayer, one carton of herbicide and another carton of pesticide.”

He said that ‘’under macro-mechanisation, we have procured a fleet of tractors  to enhance mechanisation.

A new public-private partnership framework has been developed to operationalize these tractors via revived mechanization hubs.

“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,” he added.