Sokoto farmers lament over low wheat seedlings
By Omotayo Edubi
A group of farmers in Sokoto State has expressed why they keep away from wheat farming, according to them it is due to the non-accessibility of improved seeds and market for the commodity.
Some farmers disclosed this to journalists during the Sokoto wheat farmers’ green Field Day organized by Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN) on Friday.
Malam Muhammadu, who is a wheat farmer in Wamakko Local Government Area, said there was nothing more worrying than a farmer not getting market for the commodity he had laboured to produce.
He complained that wheat farmers were not getting support from the state government.
Another wheat farmer, Malam Sani, who corroborated this, appealed to the state government to provide farmers, especially wheat farmers, with modern equipment and inputs which he said would make wheat farming attractive in the state.
The farmers, however, commended FMAN for its intervention in wheat farming in the state which has enabled them to have access to improved seeds and modern technology.
Speaking, the National Programme Manager of FMAN Wheat Development Programme, Dr Aliyu Sama’ila, said they have trained over 5000 wheat farmers in the state on modern wheat production, adding that they have 33 demonstration plots in the state.