From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
The ongoing rural renewal which focuses on construction of several roads in rural areas in the state, would address the issue of all season post-harvest loses by farmers and improves food security, the Kaduna State Government has said.
Commissioner, Planning and Budget Commission, Kaduna State, Muhktar Ahmed Monrovia and his counterpart in the Ministry of Agriculture, Murtala Dabo, stated this in separate interviews on the sideline of the 4th Economic Intelligence Unit Policy Dialogue, Planning and Budget Commission (PBC) themed Agriculture and Rural Economic Development Agenda.
According to Monrovia, the Economic and Intelligent Unit of the Commission is saddled with the responsibility of looking at economic situation in the country with a view to advising the policy makers in government especially in the area of the economy , social development and finance.
“So, in line with the agenda number five of SUSTAIN agenda of the current administration in the state which is agriculture and rural development, we thought it wise to hold this policy dialogue to develop rural economy which is driven by agriculture.
“We are helping the government by way of bringing the academia, private sector, agricultural entrepreneur, civil society groups together to discuss and advice the government in the best approach to deliver this agenda.
“Over the years, a lot of money has been spent to develop the agricultural sector of the economy. But, there has not been any serious initiative to make it work like this administration is doing.
“At the end of the day, the recommendation will be looked into, a white paper would be developed and this commission will follow it through”, he said.
To Murtala Sabo, “when we talk of the economy of Kaduna State, agriculture contributes significantly at least up to 43 percent of the state Gross Domestic Product. This means we need to work hard as a government to improve and sustain agriculture so that we can improve productivity and at the same time improve the living standard of our farmers.
“The dialogue is far enriching and as a state, we have focus on supporting our small holder farmers because if we support them, to improve their yields, it will be a win-win situation. Like I said, if average farmer can produce 1.5 million tons of maize per hectare without support, they should be able to produce up to five tons per hectare with quality inputs, good extension service.
‘I was in Kachia a few weeks ago where we distributed farm inputs including fertilisers, agrochemicals, trashers for processing, grinding machines. We did same in Kaduna North, Kaduna South and Chikun local government areas.
‘Talking about the live stock aspect, just a week ago at Barnawa garden where 420 women were supported in poultry and fishery.
‘Now, an evidence that this government focus is in rural development is that the first set of capital project it started were the rural roads. Rigachikun along Birni Yero, Gadan Gaya, Baraje all the way to Chikun which cuts across 42 farming communities.
“Elsewhere in the state, one of the roads will be commissioned next week. It will help the farmers to move their farm produce to the market and drastically reduce the post-harvest loses they used to suffer. So, after urban renewal, what we are doing now is rural renewal.
Earlier, Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, PBC, Bashir Abubakar Ladan, remarked that the initiative was launched in 2017 to support institutions and Kaduna State policymakers in developing evidence-based policy, make recommendations and document outcomes for futuristic purposes.