Banditry reduces agricultural production by 30 percent – officials

The activities of bandits and cattle rustlers in Katsina State have affected agricultural production with 30 per cent decrease this farming season, officials have revealed.

The Deputy Governor of the state, Alhaji Mannir Yakubu, who also oversees the state’s Ministry for Agriculture, made the disclosure during a ministerial briefing held at the Katsina Government House yesterday.

Represented by the Special Assistant to the governor on Agriculture, Dr Abba Y. Abdullahi, the deputy governor said about 500 farms were abandoned by the farmers as a result of criminal activities taking place in their areas.

“Those 500 farms amounted to about 58,000 hectares of land and that has decreased our annual production of crops to 30 per cent in Katsina state,” he said.

He added that though, the COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly affect farming activities in the state, it however had its negative impact on fertilizer procurement and distribution, which he noted, affected not only Katsina, but other states as well.

“We normally procure 30,000 metric tons of fertilizer annually, but this year we were only promised 10,000 metric tons and we ended up getting only 3,000 out of it. We are planning to add that up with the remnant of 1,000 metric tons from the previous year and distribute it to our irrigation farmers, he said.

He added that for the first time, the state would embark on cotton production through irrigation farming this year, adding that wheat and maize will also be part of this year’s “revolutionary” irrigation farming.