My vision for Jigawa State (VII)

By Santuraki Dutse

I wish to start by commending all stakeholders who have been working round the clock to ensure that we remain on the right track. Over the past few weeks, we have been holding consultation meetings with leaders and elders from all 27 Local Government Areas of our dear state to establish a strong synergy that will enable us to finetune our policies and pass our message across to the grassroots. I commend the efforts of all volunteers working for the betterment of Jigawa State.

In the past few weeks, I have received concerns that our focus is still largely on the regular perennial issues of education, health, agriculture, water resources, etc. which every leader in Nigeria keeps talking about. Actually, I share these concerns also. In fact, I find it disturbing that we are still battling to get the basics right in Nigeria even after over 60 years of independence. One would’ve wished that by now, we should be discussing sophisticated issues of 21st century development, but we can’t erect the building without a foundation. This is why we still have to emphasize on solving our foundational problems. Hopefully, we will get things right in a few years’ time.

Today, I want us to discuss agriculture which for now is the bedrock of the Jigawa State micro-economy. Over 75% of our people are farmers though at subsistence level. Agriculture is so broad that you cannot discuss its development in summary. Therefore, our vision for the sector is so wide and comprehensive that we have decided to discuss it in two series. Our major long-term plan is to make agriculture a macro-economic commercial venture that can be independent of government funding. We want to create an enabling environment which farmers will become strong enough to run their ventures just like factories and companies. In the long run, government will be the one benefitting from agricultural revenues even without huge budgetary allocations for the sector.

First and foremost, we are lucky that all the natural and artificial factors favourable to agricultural development are already available in Jigawa State. Our State has a total landmass of 24,742 square kilometres, a large proportion of which is certified to be arable. Ground survey data from the Jigawa State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (JARDA) indicates that our State has a total fadama (wetlands) size of 3,433.79 km (14% of its total landmass). In addition, we have a population of over 3 million able-bodied youths.

In addition to our new plans for agriculture, we intend to build on the achievements of the previous PDP administration. Our major deliverables are, establishment of a conducive environment through solving the farmers-herders conflict, revolutionary upgrade from subsistence to commercial farming through agricultural mechanization, sustainable agricultural funding, modernized and scientific agriculture through research and revival of agricultural extension, developing an irrigation masterplan for all-year round farming, modernized animal production and upgrade of veterinary clinics, effective storage and increased agro-processing, increased access to subsidized farm inputs and establishment of a strong linkage between agriculture and industrialization.

We will start by establishing a synergy with relevant national and international organizations in order to achieve the complete formalization of the agricultural sector. We shall deploy experts to conduct a comprehensive soil classification across the state and document the environmental requirements of all crops so that farmers can be guided on what to produce, how to produce them and where to do so. This will pave way for the gradual migration of Jigawa State into scientific agriculture. We shall work to evaluate the periodic contributions of agriculture and its components to our GDP.

As a matter of policy, we shall encourage all civil servants and other corporate entities to take up agriculture as a second venture. Our government will consider granting significant funds as agricultural loans to civil servants at zero interest rates to be deducted from their salaries over time. Only those who show convincing evidence of existing investment in agri-business will benefit.

We shall deploy a viable and sustainable means of supporting serious farmers with the right capital. Under the Anchor Borrowers Scheme of the Federal Government, the CBN is reported to have disbursed over 5 billion Naira as loan between 2016-2021 to Jigawa State farmers. However, it is difficult to objectively assess the sustainable impacts of these loans on the sector in the state. In partnership with the same Federal Government, we will start from the depoliticization of these loans so that only real farmers will have access irrespective of political affiliation. We will then expand the scheme at local level and improve it through monitoring and evaluation Insha Allah.

We will revive agricultural extension by extensively and intensively using the services of relevant graduates of the agricultural discipline. They will be given exclusive consultancy and extension service training and development exposure on new and better ways of mechanised agriculture and utilisation of better yielding seeds and varieties of animal/fishery breeding methods, etc.

We will conduct a comprehensive review of the policies and implementation mechanisms of agricultural inputs to farmers and cooperatives. To ensure the sustainability of fertilizer supply at affordable prices, we will work with private investors for the establishment and strengthening of factories with the capacity to produce the right quality and quantity throughout the year. We shall also work to attract further investors that specialize in other farm consumables like pesticides and animal supplements to see the possibility of producing them in Jigawa.

We cannot move beyond our current status if we don’t substitute crude implements with modern ones; but we are aware that achieving agricultural mechanization will require time and huge resources. Since it will be nearly impossible to provide farm machineries to all categories of farmers at once, we will emphasize on agricultural equipment hiring and maintenance arrangement. Under this, there will be a community-based arrangement to deploy these equipment and tools to farmer groups to expose them to their uses and elementary maintenance. The services of the newly trained extension workers and practitioners will be utilised here.

We shall give priority to irrigation agriculture. Jigawa has 8 Dams, Dambo, Kazaure and Wawanrafi Dams in Kazaure LGA, Warwade Dam in Dutse LGA, Galambi and Hayin Walde Dams in Gwaram LGA, Kafin Gana Dam in Birnin Kudu LGA and Kalwai Dam in Kaugama LGA. Insha Allah, we shall develop a new irrigation masterplan to make the best use of our existing water resources. In my next focus, I will continue with our agricultural policies and programmes for Fulani nomads, animal production, agro-processing, storage and marketing as well as the complete agricultural value chain.

Gobe ta Allah ce
©Santurakin Dutse