More than 350,000 farmers in Kaduna State have benefited from the supply of fertiliser and seeds under the Agricultural Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) of the Federal Government, an official has said.
The state Director, Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), Alhaji Tijjani Ishaku said the beneficiaries were drawn from the 501, 127 farmers registered under the scheme in the state.
Ishaku told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Kaduna that the scheme was a success in the state as “more than 50 per cent of those registered have benefited”.
“The total number of farmers registered since the scheme started last year is five hundred and one thousand, one hundred and twenty seven.
“As at August 23, this year, three hundred and fifty seven thousand, eight hundred and twenty six farmers, which is more than 50 per cent of the total have redeemed their allocation.”
The director said the distributions of input to farmers had gone according to plans, but acknowledged that the supply of seeds was below what was projected.
“There was a little problem encountered with the seeds companies, they really disappointed us, as what was supplied was too small to reach the farmers.”
He said the major challenge faced in the course of implementing the scheme was that of security, which resulted in the closure of some collection centres.
Ishaku said plans had been concluded to supply feeds at subsidised rate to more than 200 livestock farmers in the state under the ATA.
The director also said that about 400, 000 vaccines for domestic animals had been supplied to the state government for the vaccination of goats, cattle, sheep, and dogs in the 23 local government areas of the state. (NAN)
