Dike Onwuamaeze
The Governor of Kano State, Dr. Umar Ganduje, has commended the Crown Flour Mill Limited (CFM) for empowering women smallholder wheat farmers in the state with a donation of irrigation equipment meant to contribute to the realisation of Nigeria’s food security aspirations.
Ganduje, who was represented by his Senior Special Adviser on Youth Empowerment, Hon. Faruk Sule Garo, said that the gesture of the CFM would help sustain the livelihood Nigerian women and boost the country’s economy.
The irrigation equipment, which comprised mainly of a high-pressure water pumping machine, was recently presented to the female farmers in Giyamusu, Ajingi LGA of the state.
The Wheat Development Programme Officer, CFM, Ms. Rauda Musa Umar, said that the organisation is committed to assisting the government to achieve its food security and economic diversification agenda.
Umar said: “We will keep providing the necessary farming support and modern agronomic capacity-building training to local wheat farmers to boost wheat farming practices and yields in the country. Our focus, of course, is food security and improving livelihoods.”
The President of Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Salim Saleh, described various intervention programmes implemented by CFM as laudable.
Saleh said: “The presentation of these farming equipment to our women will go a long way to boost the women farmers’ productivity and raise the economic contribution levels of the women.”
“Let me seize this opportunity to encourage other corporate organisations and well-meaning Nigerians, especially those operating in the agric value chain, to emulate CFM in developing and boldly executing impactful agricultural development programmes that will reverberate across the local landscape, ”he added.
Atika Shuaibu, who spoke on behalf of the women smallholder farmers, expressed appreciation for the delivery of the irrigation facility.
She said: “I am so, so happy to receive the machine. With the irrigation machine, most of us will stop hiring pumping machines to water our crops. We will also have a bigger and better harvest. I thank Crown Flour Mill for this assistance.”
