From Desmond Mgboh, Kano

As part of its job creation and poverty mitigation strategy, the Kano State Agro Pastoral Development Project (KSADP) has announced plans to invest millions of naira in the supply of modern equipment and materials for crop residue utilisation in the state.

The State Project Coordinator, Kano State Agro Pastoral Development Project (KSADP), Ibrahim Garba Muhammad, announced this during the bid -opening for Procurement of Machines and Materials for Crop Residue utilisation, at the KSADP Office in Kano on Thursday.

‘The major challenge for the use of these residues is the lack of basic technology to improve their nutritional value and to store them. That is why the KSADP intends to procure machines and materials, to engage our youth in crop residue utilisation,’ said the coordinator of the project funded jointly by the Islamic Development Bank and the state government.

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Ibrahim said engaging the youth to manage crop residues would not only keep them employed but also curtail other key challenges of farmers and pastoralists such as animal feed inadequacy and migration.

‘In Kano, which is a mainly agricultural state, we produce a huge amount of crop residues from wheat, rice, maize, millet, cowpea husks, legumes etc, but the residues are usually left in the farms to rot away, used to produce cooking fire or are burnt.’

‘Since the productivity of our large and small ruminants is basically influenced by feed intake, it is only reasonable for us to use the crop residues, using some few elements to improve their nutritive value. It is an important solution for enhancing livestock production and safeguarding the environment,’ he added.

He stated that the contract for the implements would be awarded to the most qualified bidder with a view to ensuring value for money, explaining that none of the four bidders would be given preferential attention during the evaluation of their bids.