*Commences Harvest From Farm Estates
The National Land Development Agency (NALDA) is set to crash the price of maize and rice as it commences crop harvest from its farm estates across Nigeria.
The Agency has farm estates across Nigeria has achieved tremendous success in both farms built and run solely by the agency and in collaboration with private and public institutions across the six geopolitical zones.
Harvesting, bagging and storing of rice and maize are currently ongoing in Niger, Nasarawa, Benue, and Oyo states.
The agency targets 150 metric tons of maize while the faro 44 and 59 rice cultivated at Nasarawa state is expected to yield over 300 metric tons of paddies.
Harvesting and bagging have also ongoing in the NALDA-cultivated 150-hectare rice farm in Gboko, Benue State.
According to the agency, it is anticipated that the harvests will boost Nigeria’s grain supply (rice and maize), which will have a big effect on the value chains.
Evidence from states during the media tour of harvest activities at farm sites showed that the harvests will help to reduce the gap in domestic production and supply of rice and maize.
Speaking with journalists, NALDA Executive Secretary, Prince Paul Ikonne, said the harvest will be released into the markets immediately as it would greatly assist in cushioning the effects of high food prices.
In Bauchi State, maize harvest is ongoing at the well-equipped NALDA farm estate located at Galambi.
Although the overall land area is 500 hectares, 50 hectares were cultivated due to a 15-day rain delay and a late start to activities.
The farm is equipped with four tractors, two maize threshers, planters, boom sprayers, maize harvesters, and a finished grain warehouse.
The Bauchi State Coordinator for NALDA is Jalaludeen Muhammad Mu’Azu. said that the NALDA farm will boost significant production in the area because no farms in the state possessed such machinery.
Head, Department of Engineering, at NALDA, Engineer Owolabi Matthew Olusegun, speaking with journalists about the level of mechanisation on the farm expresses joy at the level of impact the harvest will have on the Nigeria economy.
“This is what we have been preaching, and it is proof that Nigeria is capable of doing so, as you have witnessed firsthand at NALDA Farm. With this, you can see how much labour we have removed, how much drudgery has been eliminated, and how the entire process has been streamlined.
“We are therefore appealing to the federal government to invest more in NALDA. We are ready to replicate this farm all over the country. With this we can increase the acreage to ensure that we get food self-sufficiency. We can do it and we are doing it,” he said.
According to Mu’Azu, the crop’s success has already piqued the interest of farmers in the surrounding farming communities.
He explained that the entire farm operation was entirely mechanized, from harrowing to planting to spraying fertilizer with a 400-litre capacity boom sprayer and machinery for weeding and harvesting.
According to him, “we have just started our harvest and you know this is the first time we are farming here. From the stories that we heard from people, there is a particular place they showed us that since they came here 40 years ago, they have never seen maize production that can be compared to our own.”
