The Bauchi State Agricultural Development Programme (BSADP) says it requires 85,000 bags of fertiliser for distribution to farmers in the state for this year’s dry season farming.

The agency’s Acting Programme Manager, Mr Luka Daniel, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Wednesday that a request had been sent to the government for the provision of the commodity.

Daniel, who is also Director, Agricultural Technical Services of the agency, said that if provided, the fertiliser would be sold to 23,750 farmers in the 920 registered Fadama Users Associations in the state.

He said the agency had provided farming groups with water pumps and wash bores to assist them in irrigation farming along with the fertiliser which would be sold to them at subsidised rates.

Daniel said the agency would continue to advocate and adopt the complementary use of organic and inorganic fertilisers to enable farmers to discover the advantages in applying the two products.

“Organic fertiliser has long term effects on the soil, while the inorganic fertiliser takes care of immediate nutrients need of the crops,” he added.

The manager said farmers had started preparations in their farms for the dry season farming, adding that they were only waiting for the farm inputs.

He thanked the government for its continued assistance to farmers, saying it had gone a long way in boosting agricultural development in the state.

Commercial agriculture project targets 50,000 farmers

More than 50,000 Small and Medium Scale Commercial farmers are likely to benefit from the World Bank-assisted Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) .
Task Team Leader, CADP, Dr. Lucas Akapa, gave this indication in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and said  many households would also benefit  by accessing  roads, energy and market as spillover effects.

The 150 million-dollar CADP project which commenced on July 30, 2009 and expected to close on Dec. 31,  2014 is being implemented in Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, Cross River and Enugu states and would support three value chains in each of these states.

In Cross River State  the value chains are  oil palm, cocoa and rice, Enugu – fruit trees, poultry and maize; Kaduna – fruit trees, dairy and maize; Kano, rice, dairy and maize and Lagos – poultry, aquaculture and rice.

He said CADP was making steady progress towards achieving its objectives, which are strengthening agricultural production  and facilitating access to market for targeted value chains among the small and medium scale commercial farmers in the five participating states.

To achieve the target of the CADP, Akapa enjoined the participating states to intensify their  efforts towards implementing the Project as well as disbursing funds to the farmers.

The Team Leader lauded the governments of the five states engaged in CAPD for their interest in establishing a solid foundation for  the project, urging  commodity interest groups to hasten delivery of  result to the beneficiaries.