Gombe’s effort on food security, Agric Comm. speaks

As part of effort to ensure food security in the country, Gombe state through its commissioner of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Hon. Muhammad Gettado  Magaji has spoken on many of the achievements of the state in an exclusive interview with Food Farm News during the visit to the state.   Read the excerpts below

Briefly introduce yourself, sir?

My name is Hon. Muhammad Magaji Gettado, Commissioner for Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Gombe State.

With the potential Gombe has in terms of food production, how has the state been able to distribute to other states in the face of food insecurity?

Well as a matter of fact the potentials here are much for food production as about 90% of the Gombe citizens are farmers in one way or the other coupled the fact that the Government is giving support to ensure a very good environment for farming towards food security that allows distribution to other states. 

I won't mind taking you to Tudun Wadi, a grain market where every day  20, 30 up to 70 tons of  trucks per day are being taken outside the state in maize, millet beans, sorghum, and groundnut.   Apart from Tudun Wadi market, we have different market days in all the  local governments and this has attracted the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to establish its branch at Kumo local government area because of the volume of  food they see going out of the state every market day. . 

The leadership of our able Governor, Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya is doing his best to revamp the agricultural sector.  Last year we flagged off our fertilizer Centre for provision of fertilizer and improved seeds for our farmers. It is important our farmers are given inputs at the right time at a subsidized rate in the months of July and the end of August. Any seed that exceeds this period is merely a waste.   If you give a farmer seed at the end of August, early August, or the second week of August, you have not assisted him in any way because he has bought an expensive seed that may not be able to give an expected yield.

 So how do you expect him to pay back? The good news i am able to tell you is the lease of the state’s dormant fertilizer blending plant to a leading private fertilizer plant for an active blending of NPK fertilizer for the use of farmers in the state and neighbouring states of Adamawa, Taraba and entire North East. On livestock, i want to assume we are number one as much as i would not want to blow our trumpet, but I just have to say this.

  Look at Wawa Zange grazing reserve, and see what we are doing there.  It is a gazetted grazing reserve that has since being when we are in Northern Eastern state with dams, veterinary clinics, human clinic and, borehole which can graciously accommodate 2 million herds. Now the grazing reserve is been considered by the State and Federal government, structures are being built so I believe in no distance time we will stop having farmers, herders clashes in the North.