By; SANI ALIYU, Zaria
The AGRA Kaduna Consortium Project has distributed five sets of water pumps and accessories to selected farmers in Kaduna State in its efforts to improve productivity and increase resilience for smallholder farmers.
Dr. Esther Ibrahim, the AGRA State Programme Officer said, the objective of this initiative is to equip farmers with the necessary resources to enhance their productivity and yields, improve their resilience and efficiency and create avenues for generating supplementary income.
She said, AGRA Kaduna State Consortium Project, which is supported by the Alliance for A Green Revolution in Africa, distributed water pumps to dry season tomatoes farmers.
In his remarks, Prof. C. K. Daudu, who is the Lead Researcher of the project said, around 200 cooperative members are projected to gain from the scheme and become well-equipped to exploit business opportunities in the rental services of water pumps within their respective communities.
According to him, the water pumps are projected to be used for 36 hours a week, with a 12:24 hours operation model adopted for the farms and rental services for the next three months of the remaining dry season tomatoes production.
Mr. Goni, the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, said this undertaking is projected to have a beneficial effect on the production and output of 600 farmers in the dry season farming communities across the three local government areas of Kudan, Zaria, and Sabon Gari, which is expected to boost their production and output.
The event, which was conducted in NAERLS /ABU Zaria, equipped participants with the skills of water pumps calibration, maintenance, operation and management demonstrations.
Prof Emmanuel Ikani, the Executive Director of NAERLS, said the distribution of water pumps represents a significant effort aimed at empowering small-scale farmers and enhancing their productivity.
Prof. Ikani said the initiative is anticipated to bring about favourable outcomes for the livelihood of the recipients and their local communities.
Personalities In attendance were, NAERLS management, farmer groups, representatives of Kaduna State Agricultural Development Agency and EXAF Africa, field extension agents amongst others.
