Wheat Farmers Cultivate 3,000 Hectares Of Irrigable Land In Kano

Alhaji Faruk Rabiu,

No fewer than 3,000 hectares of irrigable land is being cultivated by farmers in Kano state under the current dry season farming.


The Chairman, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN), Alhaji Faruk Rabiu, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano.

He said with the increase in the number of hectares being cultivated this season, wheat farmers in the state were expected to produce 50,000 metric tonnes of the commodity.

However, he said the farmers were able to cultivate only 1,200 hectares last year due lack of government’s support. “The farmers were able to produce only about 10,000 tonnes because of a number of challenges.
“The challenges include lack of government’s support and ready market for the produce,” he said.

He said many farmers who were discouraged with the business, had embraced wheat production this year because of government’s support.

According to him, there are more than 2,000 registered wheat farmers who did not get government’s support but yet planted this season.

He said besides the N100 million agricultural loan disbursed to wheat farmers, the association had secured N18.2 million loan from the Union Bank of Nigeria.

He said the loan was used in the purchase of a machine for cleaning, grading and sorting of the produce after harvest.

“We procure the machine to enable members process the commodity after harvest to the test of companies that promised to purchase the commodity from us.

“The machine will be used in cleaning, grading and sorting the commodity to add value to it after harvest,” he said.

He also said that the state government had promised to provide wheat farmers with two combined harvesters in addition to 5,000 water pumping machines to be distributed to Fadama farmers.