Kaduna : Ginger Farmers Loses Over N8b To Fungi Disease

By Mathew Ayoola

Ginger Farmers in seven Local Government Areas of Kaduna State have lost about three thousand hectares of ginger crops worth over eight billion naira to fungi disease.

The affected Local Government Areas are Kachia, Kagarko, Jaba and Zangon Kataf.

Others are Jemaa, Kaura and Sanga

The farmers made this known when the Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, Dr. Ezra Yakusak visited the affected areas in Kaduna.

The farmers who said that ginger farming is their only major occupation explained that the problem has affected their source of livelihood.

While describing the incident as a mystery, the farmers appealed to both the State and Federal Governments to come to their aid

The Administrator of Jaba Local Government, which is one of the affected areas, Mrs Nita George also expressed shock over what she described as a pandemic.

Mrs George stated that plans are already on ground to assist the farmers and solicited the support of the State and Federal Governments towards alleviating the plight of the affected farmers.

Also speaking, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mallam Murtala Dabo expressed the hope that the problem would not affect next year’s farming season as other farmlands would be allocated to the affected farmers.

Mallam Dabo added that a soil test had been carried out to ascertain the cause of the fungi disease while Agric Extension Workers would sensitized the farmers to prevent future occurrence.

Reacting to the incident, the Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC Dr Ezra Yakusak said Nigeria is the fourth ginger producer globally while Kaduna is the highest producing State in the country.

Dr. Yakusak stated that the incident is a minus to the export of ginger which is one of the major Non-Oil export commodity in the country.

According to him, the NEPC will intervene in the situation by building the capacity of the affected ginger farmers towards boosting the export of the commodity to promote the export of the nation’s Non-Oil products.

The Executive Director of NEPC used the opportunity to inspect some Ginger Production Factories in Kagarko and Kwoi Local government areas.

Edited By Grace Namiji