From Olanrewaju Lawal,Birnin Kebbi
Agriculture is one of the sectors with the potential to create jobs for Nigeria’s teeming youths. Hence, any nation with the right climate and arable land wastes no time in tapping into the opportunity to boost its economy.
Taking advantage of its vast fertile land, and determined to replicate history, Kebbi State government is doing everything possible to achieve massive production of cassava just as it did in the production of rice through the Anchor Borrowers’ scheme.
Already, the state has designated a few local government areas that are blessed with favourable vegetation to commence massive cultivation of cassava tubers.
Just as some local government areas in the state were known for massive rice production, the state had assigned large number of hectares of land in a few towns in Zuru Emirate, Maiyama Local Government Area, for the cultivation of the crop.
As gathered, out of about 20,000 hectares of land for the local farmers to cultivate the crop in Gwazawa town in Kanya district of Dankowasagu LGA, Zuru Emirate, 2,675 hectares have so far been fully utilized and ready for ethanol.
In Maiyama town, cassava farmers have grown the crop in over 10 hectares of land, expecting the harvest in the next few months. Other towns known for cassava farming include Suru, Bagudo and Yauri, among others.
While speaking on the efforts of the state government in cassava production, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Abdullahi Maigari Dakingari, disclosed that about 25 tractors have been allocated to the Cassava Growers Association of Nigeria to enable them expand production in the state. Dakingari noted that the state was fully ready to replicate what it achieved in the rice revolution. He explained that it would enable cassava farmers to cultivate the crop as expected, without any constraints.
He said: “Due to the commitment of Kebbi State governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, to cassava production, the cassava farmers recently received 25 tractors.
“These tractors are solely for cassava farmers for their production. It was approved by Governor Bagugu to ensure that cassava production improves. Even, last week, the governor was in one of the cassava farms to check their performance. This is to show you how committed is the governor to cassava production.”
He added that the state has provided over 3,000 hectares of land being cultivated for ethanol in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), with 15,000 hectares of arable land still reserved to be used for cassava production.
Eager to make a breakthrough, the state government has signed a memorandum of understanding with NNPC on the production of ethanol through cassava crop. As part of its efforts to make the dream come true, the governor has set up a standing committee on bio-fuel, under the chairmanship of Professor Mohammad Abubakar Kaoje.
Kaoje recently disclosed that NNPC and Kebbi State government would expend millions of naira on the project, explaining that, while Kebbi was mandated to provide 20,000 hectares of land for the projects, NNPC would be responsible for land validations.
He volunteered: “I wish to seize this opportunity to report to you that KBSG has met all its obligations under the MoU. In addition, it was agreed at a joint meeting of the partners that KBSG should cultivate 5,000 hectares of cassava, which will also form additional equity share for Kebbi State. So far, 2,675 hectares have been cultivated and fully established. This is for the purpose of generating seedlings and raw material for test-run of the machinery. The NNPC on the other hand is responsible for land validation, soil testing, feasibility studies, community integration, stakeholders’ engagement and environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA).”
He disclosed that the land validation exercise was contracted to Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, and Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, for cassava and sugarcane, respectively. Kaoje also said that Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was also handling the agricultural component of the feasibility study.
According to him, “The feasibility studies, soil testing and mapping have reached advanced stage of completion. The total financial implication of these to the NNPC is about N500 million. The KBSG has expended nearly the same amount towards meeting its own part of the obligation.”
Kaoje also stated that his committee has started installation of machinery, which have the capacity to generate alternative source of power for the host community, as well serving the production of ethanol instead of relying on hydropower. The project is expected to generate about millions of litres of ethanol per day.
While speaking on the potential of cassava crop, Mr. Hakeem Raji, deputy director at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, recently in Birnin Kebbi, explained that cassava farmers across Nigeria could produce 40 million tonnes of cassava per hectare with the improved variety of the crop developed by the International Institutes of Technology Agriculture(IITA).
“It is worth mentioning that Nigeria is the world’s leading producer of cassava despite its low yield of below 10mt/ha, compared to other countries such as Thailand. However, the country has the potential of having good varieties that could give more than 40mt/ha. It is my belief that the challenge is low yield, which could be surmounted, ” he said.
Also, Kebbi State director of the Federal Ministry of agriculture, Engineer Shehu Abdullahi, said: “With encouraging the youths and embarking on gender empowerment activities, it will not only increase productivity and income, but also offer more economic opportunities to farmers in the cassava value chain.
“Accordingly, this will facilitate creation of sustainable cassava planting materials production system, providing yield productivity technologies, ensuring good agronomic practice, empowerment of youth and women in production, access to information using IITA digital solutions, tools to create competitiveness and profitability of cassava enterprise for smallholder farmers in the end”.
Speaking on the progress made on the cassava crop cultivation in the state, Governor Bagudu, who visited a cassava farm at a Tungar Liya’u village, along Jega-Maiyama road, expressed delight over the expansion in the crop cultivation.
According to him: “This is further to the joint venture we have between the state government and NNPC. Among others, it is a cassava-based ethanol production production programme and a sugarcane production programme, while the cassava-based one is going very well.”
Bagudu further said that the NNPC was quite happy with the welcome development, which is a good omen for the programme.
He recalled that he had, penultimate week, met with the NNPC and the two parties and agreed to renew their MoU.
He said: “We are going to go beyond what we initially intended, to fully realize the project. Equally, what I saw today is a testament to the blessings that God granted Kebbi State. Everywhere, there are opportunities to be pursued and we are thankful to the Almighty Allah.
“I must give kudos to our project team and the development finance team of the CBN, the local government chairmen and the communities that have been involved.”