On Tuesday, over 5,000 smallholder farmers who experienced losses during the 2023 farming season due to ginger blight disease received inputs from the Federal Government. This intervention took place across seven local government areas of Kaduna State. Muhammad Abu Ibrahim, Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), announced this at the flag-off ceremony in Kachia.
He explained that this intervention is the first phase of NADF’s input distribution program under the Ginger Recovery Advancement and Transformation for Economic Empowerment (GRATE) initiative. The GRATE program aims to support smallholder ginger farmers by providing agricultural inputs from the Federal Government.
The intervention will supply maize and sorghum seeds, fertilizers, agrochemicals, and crop protection products to 5,000 registered and validated smallholder ginger farmers from the affected areas of Kachia, Zango-Kataf, Kaura, Kagarko, Jema’a, Jabba, and Sanga in Kaduna State.
“This program will help farmers practice crop rotation on land affected by ginger blight disease, supporting them towards improved livelihoods after their economic losses,” Ibrahim stated.
He further noted that NADF will assist the crop production process by offering monitoring and evaluation services, good agronomic practices (GAP), and market linkages for the farmers, while also developing programs to strengthen the entire ginger value chain.
During the distribution exercise, Kaduna State Governor Sen. Uba Sani, represented by Deputy Governor Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, emphasized the state government’s commitment to supporting smallholder farmers as a strategy to combat poverty and enhance economic prosperity.
The governor expressed gratitude to the Federal Government and NADF for their continuous support, promising ongoing collaboration with federal and other key stakeholders for the state’s benefit.
“We sincerely thank the Federal Government and NADF for their support of our smallholder ginger farmers and for standing with Kaduna State during this challenging period. We appreciate the swift intervention, particularly the establishment of the National Ginger Blight Epidemic Taskforce to address the issues arising from our farmers’ significant losses,” said Gov. Uba Sani.
