Kano Govt, IDB To Support 100,000 Farmers With $3. 23 Million Interventions

Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project, (KSADP), and the Kano Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KNARDA) have launched collaboration for the implementation of agricultural interventions worth $3.23 million in the state.

The $2.23 million is coming from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) while the Kano State Government will release $1 million as counterpart contribution to the KNARDA for its value chain interventions.

The interventions target 100, 000 small holder legumes farmers across the 44 local government areas of the state, over a period of five years, beginning from the 2020/2021 planting season.

According to Ameen K. Yassar, KSADP Project Communication Specialist, the focus of the interventions is on equipping smallholder farmers, extension agents, agro-processors and post-harvest handling service providers with knowledge and skills on improved production, post-harvest and agro-processing practices and technologies as well as creating effective input and output market linkages, towards increasing outcomes for beneficiaries.

“This is in line with KSADP’S theory of change which is to transform the smallholder farming to commercially viable businesses by developing commodity value chains in order to reduce rural poverty, food insecurity and unemployment,” Yassar said in a statement.

He noted that through the agreement, KSADP would finance KNARDA annually, upon submission of its annual work-plan and budget which will be cleared by the State Ministry of Agriculture, the KSADP, and approved by the IDB.

The Deputy Governor of Kano State, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, who doubles as the chairman Project Steering Committee, KSADP, and Ibrahim Sulaiman Dan’isle, the Managing Director of KNARDA, signed the Memorandum of Understanding.

“This MOU, coming a few weeks after we signed a similar one with SASAKAWA, is a major step in our drive to ensure agricultural productivity” Gawuna maintained.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant repercussion on food security, taking into consideration our huge population, this MOU could not come at a better time” he added.

Meanwhile, Dan’Isle said the synergy between his agency and KSADP will go a long way in reducing poverty, ensuring food security and minimizing natural resource degradation.