\2 DAILYTRUsr
25 news report
Wednesday, November 7, 201 2
AGRICULTURE
Tomatoes
Magaj! Lada n, tomato fa rmer
IGovt should build dams for farming in Kaduna' Fro m Maryam Ahmadu-Suka. Kadunil
Thee Kaduna Stale
gov~rnmt'nt
should
find ways of building dams wilhin the slale f(lr farming, t'sp«:hdly tomalo farming during the raining season. Magaji I.adan it 45 year old irrigation farmer who hu btoen in the profession (or the past 20 yt'ars after inheriting the tnde from his (;uher has gid. Speaking in an interview wuh our
correspondent. he said his parents taught him irrigation farmingrighl from
childhood He observed Ihal tomalO trade hIS be:f:n baslardi7~ because' -rumers of now-a -days un only U5C the proceeds from their trade to fend for their families and no gains attach~ b«:ause the rclaikrs and the whole seUen are theonc:s making .. lithe rmlil: lie lamented that government has refusrd to eSl:IIblish lomalo processing factory where the farmers can prl"Serve and proceu their harves15, ~If there was a tomato processing factory, farmelli will not be subjectw to selling Iheir produce at between NJOO and N500 prr baskel which the
merchants wllIscll to olher consumelli at not less than NJ,OOO for the same baskel oftomalo. -How can the poor man survive like thai aner he has used his youthful age 10 labour on .. land and has bought fertilizer which the government did not give at a subsldl7.ed ra le to come and ~ll his labour at a meager price~ -I plant up 10 12 shelters of tomato. and I do not depend on the raining sca50n 10 firm but do irrigation farming. Again we have no modem ~ulpment to compliment our drorls; J usc the 51renglh that God has gh'en me fa farm on my piece ofland,- he staled. On the inslability of farming businGS in Nigeria, he said it IS the result oflack of proper finanCing. -FarmlM'5 nowadaY" have discowred thaI fanning during Ihe raining season is a big 10M because afler borroWing moneyfmm people locuilivate crops, it becomessocheapallhat point in time because e\'Cryone has the ,\ ame things for sale and they flood the market;' he iQid He urged p'Cmmenl to lind ways of establishing tomato processing factories Ifil wants the scarcity of tomatoes 10 be reduced 10 Ihal when farmers harvest, they can take it 10 the factory and ha\'C it
UDUSto develop onions with long
storage life
Page 27
processed instead of selling it for merger amount to the merchanL -If that Is done, a lot oHarmers will wanl 10 plant tomatocs because it has a lot of seeds and can ~rminate a 101 oflolllatocs, but now if! want to plant tomatoes' need thlffton$offer1ilizer, yet I don't hnveeven 10bags.sohowGlII I cope and fend fOlthe needs of my family?He lamentt'd that gO\'Crnment Is not bdping Ihe real famm's buliOOsc who do not know an)1hingaboullhc trade bUI are the oneslhat are using tbe opportunIty to gCl money for their selfish interests, "If government can tada)' set up a you th usoclatlon and empower alleast 50 youth by giving them small money to start hrming, anyon~ ofth~m who SttS that he is gaining from the trade will no longer be Klle. but now he has nowh~Te to farm aM he docs not e\-rn know how to fann and there are no dams 10 help the rnrmen III terms of water suppl)', this b problematic "In Kann the case is difT~fent b«auSC' they have so many dams that Ihey use for farming.. Now !(aduna tom.IMS h ..,'C finished and It is tomalOCS from Kano, Ka15ina and Jigawa thai are being 50Id In Kaduna markets today, "Even the dam in Bamawa that ....-as
prepared for farmen has been filii down due to lack of proper maintenance nle government should look into the plight of the common man," he slrened, He noted thaI the flood the countT)' faced in r«~nt tim" rtally afT«ted farmen that farm during the flllmng season, ~ymg that he u<:ttl Irrigation farming beause- tt has I~ lo~~c~ unlike raining season farming, On why 10mattH!S a~ K3r~e III "'aduna, he said Ihe fanner~ plant the tomatoe<; early III Kaduna because IheSlate IS known 10 have early rains Ihan some other par1~ of the North and that is wh}' II Iint~hM earl)' unlik~ in KalSlIla and Kanu where they start planting millet and maize and plant tomatMs after they han'~~t the grains "In my 20 )'ears ofirrigalion fuming. I have never sold a basket oftomntoe~ fm more th3n N600 and' harvest well m'er 1000 baskels at a time. "If the government g1VM the )'uulh pi~ce~ of land. seedling~ lind ferllll7C~r to Slarl farming, morc- Ihan 90 percenl of them will no longer be idle thereb)' reducing insecurity in the ~llIte due to the use of the youths as politicallhugot." he reiterated
Deputy speaker trains women, youth on agric Pag.26