Dry season farming: 11, 500 wheat farmers benefit from FG’s fertilizer in Kano

No fewer than 11, 500 wheat farmers in Kano state have benefitted from the Federal Government’s fertilizer distributed under the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) programme during this year’s dry season farming.

The Kano state chairman, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN), Alhaji Faruk Rabi’u on Tuesday told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano that each farmer was given two bags of fertilizer and 50kgs of wheat seeds at the subsidised rate of N6, 500 only.

He said the Federal government also distributed water pumps with their assorsories to 100 members of the association at the cost of N20, 000 each, as part of renewed effort to boost wheat production in the state.

‘’The government has also distributed 200 sprayers at the cost of N3, 000 each in addition to two threshing machines.

‘’All these were given to our members in the state at subsidised cost to encourage more farmers to go into wheat production.

‘’As at last year (2014) we have no less than 75, 000 registered members and more are still being registered’’, Rabiu said.

He, however, called on the Federal Government to come to the aid of wheat farmers in the state by providing them with small milling machines to enable them process the surplus of the commodity for sale locally.

‘’Government should assist our members with small milling machines so that if companies do not buy the commodity, we can process it ourselves and sell the finished product locally’’, Rabiu said.

He noted that the measure was necessary in order to prevent wastage and encourage massive production of the commodity, not only in the state but across the country