Kaduna govt’s agric interventions second to none — Commissioner

Governor Uba Sani has increased funding, introduced new agricultural schemes  and has given more inputs to  farmers than any government in the history of Kaduna State.

The Governor has not only increased the budgetary allocation to the sector but has distributed free fertilisers and farm implements to farmers and their cooperatives in the last two years.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Murtala Dabo who disclosed this at the quarterly ministerial press briefing, pointed out that the amount earmarked for agriculture in the 2025  budget is N74.2 billion.

Alhaji Murtala pointed out that that amount  represents 9.36% of the total budget, adding that 97.7% of the agric sector budget was   earmarked  for  capital projects and  ‘’ only 2.3% was  allocated to recurrent expenditure, reflecting a strong emphasis on long-term, impactful investments.’’

The Commissioner pointed out that only N1.48 billion was allocated to agriculture by the previous government in 2023, adding that the N74.2 billion allocated for this year is ‘’an exponential growth of 5,000%.’’

‘’Collectively, the budgetary allocations to agricultural activities in the  Ministries of  Environment, Education and  Human Services have pushed the  allocation to agriculture to over  12% of the 2025 budget,  making Kaduna State the only subnational to meet and exceed the 10% Malabo Declaration benchmark,’’ he disclosed.

He  further said that the Governor has distributed over 500 trucks of free fertilizer  to verified smallholder farmers under the Agricultural Input Supply Support,  ‘’the largest agricultural input support programme in Kaduna’s history.’’

‘’Under the ‘Tallafin Noma (A Koma Gona)’ initiative, 69,000 smallholder farmers were supported with quality maize seeds and agrochemicals during the rain-fed season,’’ he added.

‘’In addition, Kaduna State Government distributed  free agricultural implements and inputs to cooperatives, comprising  a 18 horse-power Tiller, an 18 horse power 3 inch solar-powered irrigation pumping machine and a 13 horse-power 2 inch solar-powered water irrigation machine, and a gasoline powered water irrigation pumps to each cooperative to boost year-round farming.

‘’Each cooperative was also given 30 bags of Urea and NPK fertilisers, one motorised knapsack sprayer, one carton of herbicide and another carton of pesticide,’’ he said.

The Commissioner further said that ‘’under  macro-mechanization, we have procured  a fleet of tractors  to enhance mechanization.  A new public-private partnership framework has been developed to operationalize these tractors via revived mechanization hubs.’’

According to him,  the scheme will be purely private sector-driven but the tractors  will be hired  to farmers at highly subsidized rates so that the model will be sustainable.

Alhaji Murtala said that revenue acquiring  from these private operators will be used to  acquire more tractors’’, arguing  that ‘’ there will be a  penetration of this mechanization to all nooks and cranny of the state over the  years.’’

Kaduna State is also developing the Agricultural Quality Assurance Centre (AQAC) with the support of the Afrexim Bank, which is the  first of its kind in Northern Nigeria, he said.

The Commissioner said that the  facility will complement the Special Agricultural Processing Zone, adding that it will ensure ‘’ that our agricultural produce meets both domestic and international quality standards.’’

Alhaji Murtala added that the AQAC will enhance Kaduna’s competitiveness in the global market, particularly under the AfCFTA framework.

‘’This means that our farmers and agro-industries will not only produce more but will produce better—meeting the highest standards required for export and premium markets,’’ he added.