SAA/KSADP unveils media field on $22m intervention in Kano

The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA-Nigeria), has unveiled a media field to showcase the $22m Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project (KSADP) intervention in the state.

The intervention is being implemented by SAA-Nigeria, in collaboration with the state government, funded by Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) with support from Live and Livelihood Fund (LLF) under counterpart funding.

Briefing journalists on the field activities at its headquarters in Kano, the Country Director, SAA-Nigeria, Dr. Abdulhamid Gambo explained that the five-year project, kick-started last year, is targeted at improving food security, market viability and nutritional security in Nigeria.

Dr. Gambo revealed that the intervention was to empower 450,000 farmers in three major segments, including regenerating agriculture, micro nutrient fortification and market oriented agriculture, geared towards enhancing life and livelihood in the country.

According to him, SAA-Nigeria, an international agricultural commodity value chain provider, was engaged to implement the KSADP crop productivity component, which involves Cereal (rice, maize, sorghum, millet) and vegetable (onion and tomatoes).

“The focus of Sasakawa in the KSADP agricultural intervention hinges on ensuring the deployment of technologies to farmers, essentially to improve high yield and sustain production of nutritional food and security.

“We managed the implementation of the project in the area of regeneration of soil health to attain maximum production. The beneficiaries are being equipped with requisite knowledge on how to add value to production in line with global best practices.

“Also, Sasakawa promotes nutrient based crops to enhance consumers’ good health. We introduced micro nutrient technologies, which are bio fortified to produce a balanced diet. Another major area we focus on is market viability. Beneficiaries are educated on what to produce,” he said.

The Programme Coordinator, SAA/KSADP, Abdulrashid Hamisu Kofar-Mata hinted that 270,000 beneficial farmers are targeted in the second year of implementation. With the present figure, Kofar-Mata said the programme has successfully exceeded its primary target with about 70 per cent in two years.

He emphasised that though the implementation was previously piloted in 20 local councils, it has since expanded to cover the rest of the 24 councils with the deployment of additional 900 extension workers to facilitate the implementation.

Communications officer, SAA Nigeria, Moses Nongoatse stressed that the media field is designed to showcase the performance of SAA/KSADP agricultural intervention across the 44 councils in the last two years of implementation.