BOA intervention boosts ginger farming in Kaduna

MD of BOA, Ayodeji Sotinrin, with Ginger farmers. Photo: BOA

Ginger farmers in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State are recording promising harvests following an intervention by the Bank of Agriculture to revive production after ginger blight devastated the sector.

The intervention has reached about 3,400 farmers across 15 clusters, providing ginger planting materials and agricultural extension services.

According to a statement issued by the Bank of Agriculture on Sunday, The Managing Director of BOA, Ayodeji Sotinrin, disclosed the number of beneficiaries during a visit to ginger farms in Kachia on Sunday to inspect mature crops and harvested ginger under the programme.

“Ginger farmers in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State are recording promising harvests following an intervention by the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to revive production after ginger blight devastated the sector,” the statement said.

He said some of the harvested ginger would be used for tissue culture to produce planting materials on a larger scale and extend the intervention to more farmers beyond the participating communities.

The BOA managing director added that the bank was working towards establishing nurseries to support ginger production in 16 states, with the aim of expanding cultivation beyond the locations currently covered by the programme.

Sotinrin projected that Nigeria’s ginger production could rise to three million tonnes within five years if the revival efforts and expansion plans were sustained.

He said the target could generate about $3bn in economic value while creating opportunities for farmers to increase their earnings.

“The people that you’ll call poor farmers or vulnerable farmers, they’re the ones that will be making N70 to N80 million per hectare, not me,” he said, referring to the potential earnings from ginger cultivation.

He added that BOA was providing financing at an interest rate of nine per cent, in line with the Federal Government’s directive to make agricultural credit more affordable.

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The BOA managing director said the bank was working with the Federal Government on interventions across other agricultural value chains to improve farmers’ earnings and strengthen food production.

He cited the Guaranteed Minimum Price programme for maize, which he said was designed to support farmers when market prices fell and encourage them to sustain production.

According to him, the Federal Government had intervened in the maize market by purchasing produce at a guaranteed floor price, a move he said had helped raise prices and encouraged farmers to return to their farms.

Sotinrin also disclosed that the bank was exploring ways to support cassava farmers by working with processors of cassava derivatives to purchase produce left on farms and offer farmers better prices.

He estimated that the sector had recovered to about 30 per cent of its previous capacity, expressing optimism that sustained assistance could accelerate the recovery within the next two years.

He also highlighted the role of women in ginger farming, saying the programme had set a target of at least 50 per cent female participation. However, he did not provide the exact number of women participating in the intervention.

The programme is supported by Agrolog, which coordinates participating farmers into clusters and provides agricultural extension services to guide cultivation and monitor crop development.

Agrolog’s Operations Manager, Cham Yakubu said, “Our role is to provide extension services and coordinate these farmers, which we did. We formed them into clusters,” Yakubu said.

He added that the programme also covered internally displaced farmers affected by insecurity, saying more than 900 displaced farmers had been included in one cluster and were expected to begin harvesting within three weeks of the earlier assessment.