Beans farmers who received training and inputs to boost their production under the Kano Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (KNARDA) said harvest had been very impressive.

The managing director of the KNARDA, Dr Farouk Kurawa, said the agency, under the state’s Agro Pastoral Development Project (KSADP), funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), with support from the Lives and Livelihoods Fund  (LLF), had distributed improved seed varieties to farmers in the state to facilitate improved agricultural practice that would ensure improved yield.

Speaking during a field day on value chain intervention of the project, held at Riga Fada village in Kumbotso Local Government Area of the state, Kurawa revealed that a lot had been achieved through the project. He explained that like many other parts of Nigeria, farmers in Kano State had been very far from access to important extension service information, particularly those that are into dry season production.

Similarly, Muhammad Ahmad Nahannu of KNARDA revealed that the new beans variety had a higher yielding capacity than what the farmers were used to, with about 10 per cent. He added that over 258 groups, consisting of 25 women in each group, had benefitted from various interventions under the value chain component of the project.

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Similarly, the state programme coordinator of the KSADP, Malam Ibrahim Garba, said the project was supporting government’s efforts to enhance agricultural productivity and competitiveness through access to inputs and credit, value addition and market access, extension service delivery and capacity strengthening, among others.

Commenting, one of the farmers, Malam Auwal Isah Kumbotso, said that with the recent development brought to them by the project, Kano State would soon be a hub of beans production. He added that with the level of commitment shown by the state government, farming had been made more attractive in the state than it used to be.

“We are satisfied with what we were given because these are seeds that have been tested and approved by the authorities. We can all attest to the fact that the result is indeed convincing. As a farmer, I can testify that what I have harvested this year is twice that of last year,” he revealed.