Boosting agriculture using animal traction in Katsina
It is generally believed that farmers who cultivate between 1-5 hectares of land form the bedrock of subsistence farming in the country. Therefore, in order to achieve increasedoutput in farming such farmers who are usually classified as small-scale farmers must be supported with a view to ensuring enhanced cultivation.
In Katsina State, this category of farmers forms the largest network in food production and animal husbandry. Theyhowever use farming techniques that are not too technologically advanced. Mostly they use animals, especially ox bulls, for farming. This same category of farmers has recently been bedeviled by increased cattle rustling which greatly affected their operations, forcing them to resort to manual labour with the attendant decrease in their output.
According to the International Livestock Centre for Africa, Kaduna,the advantages of animal traction for cultivation are evident in terms of land expansion and savinglabour, whereas crop yield is essentially linked to soil and crop type. Several agricultural development projects in Nigeria are now encouraging the use of animal power with the objective of increasing agricultural production.
However, with the recent changes in economic trends in Nigeria and increasing population, the stakeholders are introducing new factors to improve the situation. Agricultural policy makers have realised the need for mechanisation of Nigeria’s agricultural production through using tractors and animal traction in order to increase food production.
It is in this regard that the Katsina State government, through its special animal traction loan intends to empower clusters of farmers to enable them improve production. The special intervention scheme sought to provide soft loans in the form of animals and farm implements to boost production for small scale farmers.
A total of 1,805 farmers, five from each ward of the state, were selected to benefit from the loan, in which over N7 million was made available for the scheme.
Each farmer was given a set of ox bull, a cart, ridger and plough estimated to cost about N250,000 which is repayable in four years. The beneficiaries were subjected to intense screening from the community level to an enlarged state committee so as to ensure that only genuine farmers are picked to participate in the scheme.
Speaking at the flag off of the scheme in Kaita Local Government, Governor Ibrahim Shema, who was represented by theCommissioner of Agriculture, Musa Adamu Funta, said farming methods must be improved upon to boost production given the rate of population explosion, adding that adoption of animal power for farm operations needs to be changed for better output.
He said the administration felt it wise to come to the aid of the farmers through the special scheme initiated with a view to ensure that local farmers are supported to address their shortcomings especially as its affects farming techniques,adding that mechanisation and technology in farming are the surest way of improving land cultivation for greater production.
Several initiatives have been embarked upon like the Songhai farming, the irrigation projects and provision of subsidised fertilizers all aimed at making farming more attractable and rewarding to farmers in the state adding that theywill continue to provide the needed environment for better farming activities in the state. He enjoined the beneficiaries to judiciously use the equipment provided, saying that the success recorded in this pilot scheme will greatly guide its future.
Speaking further on the scheme, chairman of the implementation committee, Nasiru Abdul, said the bulls and other equipment had been insured by the National Agricultural Insurance Corporation, in addition to ensuring that only healthy bulls certified by vet doctors and other livestock specialistsare purchased for the scheme.
“Another beautiful aspect of the scheme is that local blacksmiths and students on training at the state youth craft village fabricated the implements.You can see how they have benefited as well and we ensured that the bullsare equally purchased from our local markets so as to boost the local economy,”Abdul said.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke to Daily Trust expressed their appreciation over the scheme and urged the state government to continue to empower them for enhancedagricultural production.
Ibrahim Tela, one of the beneficiaries, said the loan will surely go a long way in assisting him and his family to boost their output, adding that hitherto they rented a cart and bull for N3,000 to work on their farmland.
For Hassan Bashir and Hajiya Sanda, two other beneficiaries, it was a welcome relief for been selected for the scheme and called on the government to make more funds available to enable more farmers in view of the flexibility and accommodating arrangement of the loan.
By and large even though animal traction is believed to boost agriculture for the small scale farmer,it faces challenges which include outbreak of diseases such ascontagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) and rinderpest, and lack of animal feed during the dry season, use of too young animals, bought at low prices for a lucrative resale three to four years later as well as poorly weeded fields. These, among others, forcedearly adopters of the ox-plow to revert to manual farming.
Perhaps, for the state to achieve the needed success in the programme, proper monitoring mechanism must be put in place to ensure that the items loaned out are judiciously used and that the farmers are carried along in training and retraining in the use of the implements.