Bomba Dauda
Speaking at the National Agricultural Day 2024, with the theme: “Farming in the 21st Century” at the Kaduna State University, Kafanchan campus, Distinguished Sunday Marshall Katung(SMK), Senator representing Kaduna South senatorial district, said, “I am grateful for the release of the sum of 1.6 billion Naira to ginger farmers who suffered last year’s mishap.”
The release of the funds came after several efforts by SMK on the floor of the National Assembly and engagements with National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA).
Senator Sunday Marshall Katung
Earlier in the week, SMK urged the federal government to pay compensation to ginger farmers who were affected by the outbreak of fungi pathogens infection in the country, leading to the loss of over N10 billion.
Senator Katung expresses concern that if the ginger farmers are not encouraged through compensation, Nigeria may lose her position in the global ginger market.
Nigeria is currently the second largest producer of ginger in the world, trailing only China but Katung said the fungi disease, which hit the country last year, will cause a devastating effect on the famers if they are not supported.
Recalled that the Senate had last year October, expressed worry over the loss of N10 billion by ginger farmers in Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State.
The upper chamber, therefore, called for immediate intervention from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to cushion the effect and control the spread of the disease.
The decision of the Senate followed a motion moved by Senator Katung seeking an urgent need to address the outbreak of the deadly disease.
Senator Katung had informed the senate that the outbreak of fungi pathogens infection destroyed over 2,500 hectares of farmlands estimated at N10 billion across seven Local Government Areas of southern part of Kaduna State.
Speaking at a one day workshop, organized by the Senate committee on Capital Market in collaboration Lagos Commodities and future Exchange, in Abuja, Senator Katung feared that ginger farmers may not return to farming if they are not paid compensation for the losses they incurred during the outbreak of the deadly disease.
The Senator told the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Sabi Yahaya who was at the workshop that “the losses the ginger farmers incurred as the result of the outbreak of the fungi disease during the last farming season is incredible.”
“You have to compensate them as a way of encouraging them (farmers) to go back to farming. If that is not done, the farmers will no longer be interested in farming, and we will lose our position in the world as a country,” he said.
Kaduna State ranks the highest in ginger production in Nigeria, contributing to Nigeria’s place as one of the largest producers of ginger in the world, with a production average of more than 300,000 tonnes during the five-year period 2014-2018, and a global market share of about 11 per cent, trailing only India.
