By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo

The Kaduna State Government, under Governor Uba Sani, has implemented unprecedented agricultural reforms and interventions, making it the most supportive administration for farmers in the state’s history, according to the Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Murtala Dabo.

Speaking at the quarterly ministerial press briefing, the commissioner said the state has significantly increased funding for the agricultural sector, introduced new schemes, and distributed free inputs to farmers and cooperatives over the last two years.

He revealed that the 2025 budget allocates ₦74.2 billion to agriculture, representing 9.36% of the total budget — a sharp rise from the ₦1.48 billion allocated by the previous administration in 2023. “This is an exponential growth of over 5,000%,” Dabo noted.

He added that 97.7% of the sector’s allocation is directed toward capital projects, with only 2.3% for recurrent expenditure, signaling the government’s focus on long-term investments.

“Collectively, the budgetary allocations to agriculture across the Ministries of Environment, Education, and Human Services have pushed the agricultural share of the 2025 budget to over 12%, making Kaduna the only subnational in Nigeria to meet and exceed the 10% Malabo Declaration benchmark,” Dabo said.

Highlighting key interventions, he noted that over 500 trucks of free fertilizer have been distributed to verified smallholder farmers under the Agricultural Input Supply Support programme — the largest in the state’s history.

He also cited the ‘Tallafin Noma (A Koma Gona)’ initiative, which supported 69,000 smallholder farmers with quality maize seeds and agrochemicals during the rain-fed season.

In further efforts to promote year-round farming, the government provided cooperatives with a range of free agricultural equipment, including:

18-horsepower tillers

Solar-powered irrigation pumping machines

Gasoline-powered water pumps

Fertilizers (Urea and NPK)

Motorized knapsack sprayers

Herbicides and pesticides

Dabo also revealed that the government had procured a fleet of tractors under a new public-private partnership framework to promote mechanized farming. These tractors, he explained, will be operated by private entities but hired to farmers at highly subsidized rates to ensure sustainability. Revenue generated will be reinvested in acquiring more tractors, expanding reach across the state.

To strengthen post-harvest quality control, he said Kaduna is building the Agricultural Quality Assurance Centre (AQAC) in collaboration with Afrexim Bank — the first of its kind in Northern Nigeria.

“This facility will complement the Special Agricultural Processing Zone and ensure our agricultural produce meets both domestic and international standards,” he said.

Dabo stressed that with the AQAC, Kaduna farmers and agro-industries will not only increase production but improve quality, enhancing competitiveness in the global market, especially under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework.