Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) in Gombe State, has said it commenced harvest of the 2,463 hectares of land cultivated during the dry season.
Mr Ahmed Shamsuddeen, the secretary of the association, in Gombe on Monday, described the support of the Federal Government to wheat farmers as “impressive and helpful”.
About 2,643 hectares of wheat were cultivated under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP) support for dry season farming in the state.
Shamsuddeen stated that the support of the Federal Government had boosted wheat farming in the state as well as changed the mindset of most wheat farmers in the state.
According to him, the support has made many farmers to realize that farming is now a “serious business’’ against the hitherto knowledge of cultivating wheat for consumption or selling at a giveaway price.
The secretary said they were expecting bumper harvest, “because of the support of the Federal Government to farmers that would have been idle during dry season.”
He said that a lot of benefits were derived from the intervention by the Federal Government from food security, preserving foreign exchange, creating jobs for youths and women, amongst others.
“A lot of youths benefitted from the support from planting to fertilizer and agro chemicals application, weeding, and security men down to the time of harvest.
“ We have 109 clusters and 200 youths were engaged per cluster; if you multiply 109 by 200 you will understand the impact of the intervention of the Federal Government on youth employment in Gombe,’’ he said.
Shamsuddeen called on youths to invest in wheat farming to earn a living and get good return on their investment, and added that “wheat was now of global demand in view of Russia invasion into Ukraine’’.
“No youth would regret going into wheat farming, wheat farming gives best returns on investment and I appeal to youths of Gombe and Nigeria to go into it and make money for themselves,” he said.
Shamsuddeen appealed to the Federal Government to expand its intervention for wheat production in the state to engage more farmers, boost wheat farming and create more jobs for youths.
