Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa State has expressed confidence that Nigeria can attain self-sufficiency in wheat manufacturing within the close to future.
He spoke on Thursday on the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the place he fielded questions from newsmen after he met with President Bola Tinubu.
The governor mentioned his go to was to thank the President for permitting Jigawa State to domesticate 40,000 hectares out of 120,000 hectares of land put aside for wheat farming in Nigeria.
Namadi, who mentioned he briefed the president on the venture and different developmental points in Jigawa State and the nation at giant, acknowledged that Nigeria is able to exporting wheat with the federal government’s present deliberate plan to achieve self-sufficiency.
On what distinction Jigawa State may make in wheat manufacturing for Nigeria, he mentioned: “We’re primary in wheat in Nigeria. So, the problem is that we’ve got already made a distinction as a result of we’re primary. After which right now, like I instructed you, out of 120,000 hectares for Nigeria, Jigawa State alone is given 40,000 hectares and that reveals that we’re making a distinction.”
Whereas expressing confidence within the state’s capability to achieve wheat sufficiency in Nigeria, the governor mentioned: “We have now a FADAMA land of over 400,000 hectares. So, that’s solely FADAMA land that we are able to domesticate in each the wet and dry seasons.”
On the opportunity of exporting wheat, Namadi mentioned: “We’re going to export wheat over time. We’re doing the primary one, after which after this one, we’re going for rice, and the following one, we’re going for wheat. That’s how the cycle will proceed to go. Positively, we’re going to have meals sufficiency and we’ll undoubtedly have surplus to export.”
In a projection concerning the variety of tonnes of wheat to anticipate from Jigawa State, the governor mentioned: “The problem is what we’re doing now; the minimal we’re anticipating is about 4 tonnes per hectare. Now we’re doing 4 tonnes per hectare and we’re doing 40,000 hectares. In truth, these 40,000 are those for which we’ve got acquired assist from the federal authorities. We’re doing greater than that. We will have about 50,000 hectares of land from individuals doing it on their very own.
“So, no less than with the important providers we’ve got offered and with all of the assist we’ve got offered for land clearing, particularly for harrowing that we’ve got supported the farmers, that has allowed them to domesticate extra. Anyone who was doing one hectare now is able to do extra hectares due to the assist he has from the federal authorities and from the assist he has from the state authorities, multiply that by 40,000 hectares, the official one, we’re doing plus about 10,000 hectares. We’re doing a minimal of 4 tonnes per hectare; some persons are making six tonnes per hectare, however we’re taking simply the minimal, so undoubtedly, I believe the long run could be very vivid.”