The Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), Mohammed Abu Ibrahim, said the Federal Government, through the NADF, is providing support valued at N1.6bn input package to ginger farmers in three states, including the Federal Capital Territory.
The input support is under GRATE package, which is the Ginger Recovery Advancement and Transformation for Economic Empowerment.
He disclosed this at the launch of Ginger Blight Epidemic Control Taskforce support Initiative supported by the office of the Vice President held in Kaduna State.
He disclosed that 15,000 ginger farmers from Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory were affected by the recent ginger blight epidemic in the country.
According to him, this happens when the country has started witnessing considerable growth in ginger export.
Abu said the National Bureau for Statistics (NBS) reports that revenue from ginger export increased by 17% to hit N10bn in Q2 of 2023 compared to N4.6bn over the same period in 2022.
According to him, It is in response to the epidemic crisis that a task force was set up.
“At the first instance, the Federal Government through the NADF is providing support valued at N1.6bn starting out with 1 ha input packs appropriately named the GRATE package, which is the Ginger Recovery Advancement and Transformation for Economic Empowerment”.
“The recent ginger blight epidemic, while affecting an estimated 15,000 farmers across Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa States, and the FCT, came at a time our country had started to see considerable growth in ginger exports,” he said.
He explained that the support package to be given to the governor contains 1pc 20kg bag of high-yield seed variety, 4pcs 50kg bags of NPK fertilizer, 2pcs 50kg bags of urea, 2pcs 1kg bag of fungicide.
Others , he said were 1pc 1ltr of insecticide, 2pcs 1 litre of herbicide, 1pc, and 2 litre of post-emergence herbicide.
He said that the team was eager to see ginger being grated in rural communities again in the immediate term.
In her remarks, Technical Assistant on Agriculture, office of the Vice President, Mario Moon said the presidency was taking the issue of agriculture and ginger farming very seriously as part of the government’s renewed agenda programme .
According to her, many countries including Mexico were busy trying to grow Nigerian Ginger because it was one of the best in the world.
She also urged farmers to increase ginger production in the country.
Also speaking, the State Governor , Uba Sani represented by his Deputy Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe commended the federal government for its support to the affected farmers in the state.
He described the state ginger as one of the best in the world , urging them to be more dedicated to their farming business.
A beneficiary , Bashir Mustapha from Kachia Local Government Area, who spoke on behalf of other beneficiaries expressed their gratitude to the federal government and the Kaduna state government for the initiative.
In attendance were the President, National Ginger Association, representative of Lead Farmers Traditional Rulers and representative of AlGON , Kaduna state.
BY Muhammad Jalal
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