Post-harvest Losses in Kano Dropped by 51% – Official

The Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project (KSADP) says post-harvest losses among smallholder farmers have reduced by 51 per cent following its project interventions.

The KSADP project coordinator, Abdulrasheed Kofarmata, stated this on Tuesday in Kano at the Media Field Day of the five-year project funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) and the Kano State government.

He said the average income of beneficiary farmers rose to ₦972,462.01 per hectare above baseline levels.

Mr Kofarmata said the reduction was achieved through improved storage facilities, farmers’ training, and the introduction of climate-smart technologies across major agricultural clusters in the state.

He said the project had improved food security, nutrition, and income generation for thousands of farmers through modern extension services, increased access to mechanisation, improved seed systems, and expanded market linkages.

According to him, more than 477,284 farmers had directly benefited from KSADP interventions across 44 local government areas.

He said the project also strengthened gender and youth inclusion, climate-smart agriculture, and nutrition-sensitive farming.

Mr Kofarmata said the project trained 854 field personnel, equipped them with motorcycles and digital devices, and supported more than 5,748 production clusters for grains and vegetables, as well as 1,537 seed system clusters.

He said KSADP deployed large-scale mechanisation tools, including planters, fertiliser applicators, threshers, power tillers, rice transplanters, modular rice mills, mobile flour mills, and climate-smart irrigation kits.

Mr Kofarmata added that additional mechanisation worth billions of naira was in the pipeline, funded by savings from the Project Management Unit (PMU), including 80 tractors, 28 combine harvesters, 1,900 solar pumps, and other equipment.

The coordinator said the project established three Agricultural Mechanisation Centres in Kadawa, Danbatta, and Gaya, as well as 81 agro-processing centres, nine medium-scale parboiling centres and several vegetable processing and storage facilities.

He said external evaluation showed yield increases of 226 per cent for rice, 161 per cent for maize, 166 per cent for sorghum, 152 per cent for millet, and significant gains for tomato, cabbage, and onion.

Mr Kofarmata said the project strengthened 11,228 farmers in market readiness, trained and linked 1,100 agro-dealers, and facilitated billions of naira in input and output market linkages.

He acknowledged the support of Governor Abba Yusuf, the state Ministry of Agriculture, KNARDA, and the KSADP’s state coordination team in ensuring smooth project implementation.

Mr Kofarmata reaffirmed the project’s commitment to sustaining gains and promoting continued transformation of Kano’s agricultural sector through strong partnerships.

(NAN)