SAA/KSADP unveils media field on US$22 million agricultural intervention in Kano
The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA-Nigeria), has unveiled a media field to showcase the US$22 million Kano State Agro-Pastoral development project (KSADP) intervention in the state.
The SAA/KSADP intervention is being implemented by SAA-Nigeria, in collaboration with the state government, funded by Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), with support from the Live and Livelihood Fund (LLF) under counterpart funding.
[FILES] Rice farmer
Briefing journalists on the field activities at the headquarters in Kano, Country Director, SAA-Nigeria, Dr. Abdulhamid Gambo, explained that the 5 years project which kick-started in 2021, is targeted at improving food security, market viability, and nutritional security in Nigeria.
Gambo told reporters that the intervention was anchored to empower 450,000 farmers in three major segments, including regenerating agriculture, micronutrient 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 manage the implementation of the project in the area of regeneration of soil health to attain maximum production. The beneficiaries are equipped with requisite knowledge on how to add value to production in line with global best practices.
“Also, Sasakawa promote nutrient-based crop to enhance consumers’ good health. We introduced micronutrient technologies that are bio-fortified to produce balanced diet. Another major area we focus on is market viability. Beneficiaries are educated on what to produce,” Gambo said.
Program Coordinator, SAA/KSADP, Abdulrashid Hamisu Kofar-Mata, noted that 270,000 beneficial farmers are targeted in the second year of implementation. With the present figure, Abdulrashid reminded us that the programme has successfully exceeded its primary target by about 70 per cent in two years.
He emphasised that though the implementation was previously piloted in 20 local government areas, it has since expanded to cover the rest of the 24 local government areas of the state 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 local government areas in the last two years of implementation.
Moses said the week-long event will enable selected journalists to interface with beneficiaries of the Islamic Development Bank agricultural-funded project and evaluate the impact on their life and livelihood.
