The Federal Government and Kaduna State Government are collaborating to improve groundnut farming in the state, according to Tijjani Isiyaku Kaduna State Director, Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).
Isiyaku, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday said both governments were exploring the viability of dry season groundnut farming to improve in the area, and also as a way to diversify the economy.
He identified the major challenge faced by groundnut farmers in the state as inadequacy of seeds, but noted however that the Federal Government will as part of its contribution ensure the provision of improved variety of seeds.
“A lot of farmers are interested in the new variety of seeds, they have even started booking,” Isiyaku said.
“Already, varieties of groundnut seeds where distributed to farmers for trial on their farms about two months ago.
“We went round the farms and we discovered that the trials were successful,’’ he said.
He said that the dry season farming would be mainly for the production of seeds in order to address the challenge.
He added that the government was committed to reviving all the economic potential of the country which had been abandoned, such as the groundnut pyramid period which contributed to the economic growth of Nigeria.
Groundnut was one of the major revenue earner for Nigeria before the oil boom of the 1960s , especially between 1956 and 1967. Nigeria was at the time among the biggest producers of groundnut in the world with a market share of over 40 percent of shelled groundnuts sold globally.
It is hoped that the concerted efforts of the government will bring back the groundnut pyramid days.
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