Ginger farmers get NADF N1.6 billion input support

THE National Agricultural Development Fund ( NADF) Executive Secretary, Mohammed Abu Ibrahim, said the Federal Government, through the NADF, is providing support valued at N1.6b input package to ginger farmers in three states, including the Federal Capital Territory.

The input support is under the Ginger Recovery Advancement and Transformation for Economic Empowerment ( GRATE) package.

He disclosed this at the launch of the Ginger Blight Epidemic Control Taskforce Support Initiative supported by the office of the Vice President in Kaduna.

According to him, 15,000 ginger farmers from Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory were affected by the recent ginger blight epidemic in the country.

According to him, this happens when the country has started witnessing considerable growth in ginger export.

Abu said the National Bureau for Statistics ( NBS) reports that revenue from ginger export increased by 17 per cent to hit N10b in Q2 of 2023, compared to N4.6b over the same period in 2022.

According to him, it is in response to the epidemic crisis that this taskforce was set up. “At the first instance, the Federal Government through the NADF is providing support valued at N1.6b starting out with one hectare input packs appropriately named the GRATE package. “The recent ginger blight epidemic, while affecting an estimated 15,000 farmers across Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa States, and the FCT, came at a time our country had started to see considerable growth in ginger exports,” he said.

He explained that the support package to be given to the farmers contains one packets of 20kg bag of high- yield seed variety, four packets of 50kg bags of NPK fertiliser, two packets of 50kg bags of urea, two packets of1kg bag of fungicide.