Stories by Stanley Onyekwere
No fewer than three hundred Abuja small scale commercial farmers were provided with improved agro seeds and chemicals, at the beginning of this year’s farming season, by the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), to boost their productivity.
According to the Director and programme manager, FCT ADP, Mike Uwazie, who made this disclosure, the farmers benefited from 30 metric tonnes of rice and 20 metric tonnes of maize as well as other critical inputs it received for this year’s farming period.
Peoples Daily reports that ADP, is part of the structures under the FCT Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat (ARDS), through which it advances the quest for food security in the FCT.
Specifically, he said, for the rice programme, there are 200 beneficiaries while for the maize programme, there are 100 farmers, respectively, who were give inputs in form of credit at the start of the farming season.
Speaking during an inspection of some rice farms in Gwagwalada, Abuja, on Wednesday, he explained that the programme is designed that small scale farmers would have to be supported with the necessary inputs like the improved seeds and agro chemical, so as to increase their productivity.
“After harvest, the farmer contact ADP desk officer, who will now make sure that the equivalent weight of the value of the input given to him or her, is collected from the produce, while leaving the rest of the yield for the farmer to offset.
“And there are lot of business men and women that are waiting to uptake the product from them. In programme, we are encouraging women because they are the major stakeholders in effort at eliminating poverty in the society,” the Director stressed.
He noted that through the programme, the FCT administration has been able to impact positively on the lives of small scale farmers in the Territory, as it has increased their holdings from one hectare three years ago to about seven hectares and solved the problem of sourcing critical inputs, which is what basically limits farmers in production.
According to him, there are a lot of rice processing points in the country, trying to process the locally produced rice into parboiled rice, and a lot of people are now showing interest in this area, that would increase the livelihoods of the farmers.
Looking forward into the future, he said “the plan is that now that this year’s has shown to be a success, we are going to increase our capacity to carry more farmers along.
“We know have over one hundred and sixty thousand farming families in FCT, therefore we will make sure that in the coming years of 2015 and 2016 farming season, and so on, more of our small scale farmers will be involved in this laudable programme, so as to increase production and productivity in the sector.”
One of the beneficiaries, Jumai Wayeagbgyi, a widow, who said that she was given some improved rice seeds, which she cultivated in July, including agro chemical for treatment, added that after three months, she will be harvesting it in about one or two weeks’ time.
She however, said the major problem was inability to get enough fertilizers she needed to boost her yield, “because if I was able to have enough fertilizers to apply to the rice crops, it could have better than what she is expecting from the farm.
According to her, although, she approached ADP office to assist her with fertilizers, but was told that there is nothing like that in the programme.
She therefore made a passionate appeal to the relevant authorities to include provision of fertilizers and tractors, so as to enable farmers improve on their yield.
“I’m a widow, and use the proceeds from the farm to feed and train her four children in school, so it has impacted positively on me and my family,” she expressed.
