Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano state, on Monday, launched agricultural interventions consisting of agro-processing facilities and farm inputs, for 6, 200 smallholder farmers, through agricultural associations, under the Kano State Agro Pastoral Development Project/ Sasakawa Africa Association Crop Value chain intervention.
Funded by the Islamic Development Bank, IsDB, the Lives and Livelihood Funds, LLF, and the government of Kano state, the support, which aims to strengthen agricultural productivity comprises units of Power tillers, Hammer mills, Rice mills Rice hullers, Rice threshers, Maize threshers, Traddle pumps, and Multi crop threshers, among other things.
Equally, the governor flagged off the second phase of Kano State Agro Pastoral Development Project’s Ram Fattening and Small Ruminants Reproduction schemes, for 2, 357 women and youths.
Small ruminants play a vital role in the food and nutrition security of millions of poor rural dwellers in Kano, Nigeria’s most populous state, serving as sources of meat, milk, and skin.
Also launched by the governor during the occasion was the distribution of free Aflasafe, a bioprotectant for use on groundnut farms to reduce aflatoxin contamination, to 1, 200 farmers, under the Kano State Agro Pastoral Development Project/ KNARDA Legumes Value chain intervention. Aflatoxins can cause liver cancer and other health challenges in human beings.
Speaking during the well-attended ceremony in Kano, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf said the interventions are in tandem with his government’s resolve to improve lives and livelihoods.
“Our target is to achieve food sufficiency and sustained employment generation to our teeming youth through agricultural activities, development of additional cultivable land and increase in livestock production, to make our economy very resilient”, Gov. Abba maintained.
The governor restated his administration’s resolve to revamp agriculture in view of its importance to the economy, the governor expressed appreciation to the Islamic Development Bank and the Lives and Livelihood Funds for their support towards making life better for citizens of the state.
The Managing Director of KNARDA, Dr. Faruk Kurawa told the governor that the target beneficiaries of the interventions are mainly peasants from the 44 local government areas of the state, poiting out the support is the tip of the iceberg, as the state government is committed to improving the wellbeing of the citizenry.
KSADP’s State Project Coordinator, Ibrahim Garba Muhammad stressed that since its inception, the Kano Agro–Pastoral Development Project invested heavily in the sustainable development of livestock and selected crop value chains, pointing out that the objective is to contribute to poverty alleviation and strengthening of food security of low-income earners.
