NGO trains farmers on climate-smart agriculture in Kaduna
Care and Action Research (CaRE) Non-Governmental Organisation (CaRE-NGO), says it is training farmers to promote Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), urban farming and home gardening in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NGO is based in Kaduna.
The Founder and Coordinator of the NGO, Prof. Bala Dogo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Kaduna that the training was organised to commemorate the 2022 World Environment Day.
Dogo said that the training organised for members of Men Fellowship Choir, Evangelical Church, Winning All (ECWA), Kaduna Zone, was to equip participants with skills to produce crops within available space in their homes.
He said that the measure was to address the problem of food security, considering the spate of insecurity, particularly in the state, that prevents people from going to farms away from their homes.
He said that the CSA would also improve the nutritional wellbeing of households because the practice enables the cultivation of vegetables and fruits in available spaces within the home.
According to him, it also provides an opportunity for people to engage in profitable farming activities within available space and resources in their homes, including rooftop.
“The participants were trained on how to use a water sachet to grow moringa, green tea, passion fruits and umbrella tree seedlings.
“They were also taught how to cultivate yam, sweet potatoes, cassava, cocoyam, and water yam using a sack, as well as grafting many varieties of mango, orange, and pawpaw on one tree.
“Other areas include rooftop farming to produce a green cover on fence and gate using passion fruits and production of strawberries among other CSA practices,” he said.
Dogo said that 33 men and two women attended the training at CaRE-NGO Resource Centre, Sabon Tasha Kaduna, adding that they all went home with different seedlings to plant in their homes.
One of the participants, Mr Bulus Gona, said that he learnt a lot of things, especially how to plant mango and palm fruit trees within available space at his house.
Another participant, Mr Jacob Musa, a businessman, told NAN that the training had opened his eyes to how he could make money and improve the nutritional intake of his family via smart agricultural practices.
Musa, a resident of Narayi area said that the security situation has prevented him from cultivating his farmland, adding that the knowledge on CSA had provided a solution on how to cultivate fruits and crops all-year round.
He thanked CaRe-NGO for the training, which he said had opened his eyes to how much fruits and vegetables he could cultivate within his home.
“The training is an eye opener. I never knew I can cultivate vegetables, fruits and other root crops and tubers within the available space in my house until today.
“I will surely give it a try and reap the benefits,” he said. (NAN)