The Bank of Agriculture has helped ginger farmers in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State achieve promising harvests following an intervention to revive production after ginger blight devastated the sector. The programme has reached about 3,400 farmers across 15 clusters, providing ginger planting materials and agricultural extension services, the Bank of Agriculture said. Ayodeji Sotinrin, the Managing Director of BOA, disclosed these figures during a visit to ginger farms in Kachia to inspect mature crops and harvested ginger under the programme.
Some of the harvested ginger will be used for tissue culture to produce planting materials on a larger scale and extend the intervention to more farmers beyond the participating communities, Sotinrin said. The bank is working towards establishing nurseries to support ginger production in 16 states, with the aim of expanding cultivation beyond the locations currently covered by the programme. Sotinrin projected that Nigeria's ginger production could rise to three million tonnes within five years if the revival efforts and expansion plans were sustained. He said the target could generate about $3bn in economic value while creating opportunities for farmers to increase their earnings.
The BOA managing director said farmers participating in the scheme could earn between N70 million and N80 million per hectare from ginger cultivation. BOA is providing financing at an interest rate of nine per cent, in line with the Federal Government's directive to make agricultural credit more affordable. The programme has set a target of at least 50 per cent female participation, though the exact number of women participating was not provided.
The bank is working with the Federal Government on interventions across other agricultural value chains to improve farmers' earnings and strengthen food production, Sotinrin said. He cited the Guaranteed Minimum Price programme for maize, which is designed to support farmers when market prices fall and encourage them to sustain production. The Federal Government has intervened in the maize market by purchasing produce at a guaranteed floor price, a move he said had helped raise prices and encouraged farmers to return to their farms. The bank is also exploring ways to support cassava farmers by working with processors of cassava derivatives to purchase produce and offer farmers better prices. Sotinrin estimated that the sector had recovered to about 30 per cent of its previous capacity, expressing optimism that sustained assistance could accelerate the recovery within the next two years.
The programme is supported by Agrolog, which coordinates participating farmers into clusters and provides agricultural extension services. Cham Yakubu, Agrolog's Operations Manager, said the organisation formed farmers into clusters and provided extension services to guide cultivation and monitor crop development. The programme also covered internally displaced farmers affected by insecurity, with more than 900 displaced farmers included in one cluster and expected to begin harvesting within three weeks of an earlier assessment.