Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), an international non- profit organisation says it has invested more than $1 million USD in the agricultural value chain in Nasarawa State to boost food production.
Dr Godwin Atser, Country Director of SAA stated this at the flag off of its 2023 media field days in the state on Monday in Lafia.
Atser said that the Japanese funded agriculture-focused organisation had been working in Nigeria since 1992 to increase food production, reduce poverty and create wealth for resource-constraint farmers.
He pointed out that the group’s contribution in the sector had increased productivity in maize, cassava, millet, sorghum and rice value chains, as well as vegetable and other biofortified crops.
According to the country director, the organisation works in three key areas – regenerative agriculture, nutrition and marketing.
He explained that regenerative agriculture was to ensure increased productivity and maintenance of soil health for the benefit of future generation, while the nutrition component was geared toward enabling farmers have access to good and quality crops that would improve their nutrition.
Atser added that the market oriented agriculture component of their intervention was aimed at changing the mindsets of farmers to see agriculture as a business rather than consumption alone, while well linking them with the right market for their produce.
The country director said SAA was building two aggregation centers in Agwatashi and Assakio communities in Obi and Lafia Local Government Area respectively for rice production.
“At the completion of these facilities, we hope that farmers will have access to processing facilities for their rice.
“Farmers will also learn better ways to growing rice through demonstration of the regenerative approach and improve their productivity.
“We are also introducing a Japanese technology that will enable farmers generate fuel from rice husk as part of efforts to tackle climate change issues,” he said.
The country director lauded the state government for its commitment toward agriculture development by providing the opportunity for several interventions and partnerships.
He urged the government to support the pilot projects being implemented by SAA to enable more farmers to have access to technology and get the benefit of research in the sector.
Atser also called for attention to agriculture extension system through the employment of more agents in order to ensure food sufficiency and food security.
Dr Abdulhamid Gambo, Deputy Country Director of SAA, said the media field trip was a deliberate action to provide media professionals the opportunity to interact with beneficiaries of the project in order to get feedbacks while identifying gaps for future plans.
Also speaking, Alh. Umar Dan-Akano, Commissioner for Agriculture, thanked SAA for their intervention in the state since 2021.
Dan-Akano, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mallam Isah Eyah, noted that the intervention was already yielding results by scaling up food production in the state.
He said that the effort at ensuring food security was also contributing to reduce insecurity in the state as many young people have been engaged in agriculture.
The commissioner assured the group of continues support to meet the objective of their intervention in the state.
Also, Mr Emmanuel Alanana, Program Manager, Nasarawa Agricultural Development Program (NADP), lauded SAA for the positive impact of its intervention in the state.
Alanana also commended Gov. Abdullahi Sule for prioritizing agriculture and providing an enabling environment for investment in sector.
He expressed optimism of government’s commitment to engage more extension workers to provide farmers with basic information that would boost agricultural productivity.
