By Chinyere Anyanwu
Crown Flour Mill (CFM) Limited, a leading flour milling business, has provided farming irrigation equipment to some female wheat farmers in Kano State.
This is in furtherance of its ongoing strategic investment drive to support Nigeria’s food production self-sufficiency and food security aspirations, and its short to medium term value chain developmental efforts aimed at raising the current local production levels of wheat in the country.
The irrigation equipment is meant to assist female smallholder wheat farmers and ultimately enhance their productivity levels. The irrigation equipment comprising mainly of a high-pressure water pumping machine, were formally presented to the female farmers at a ceremony held recently in Giyamusu, Ajingi LGA of the state.
The realisation of the productivity potential of women smallholder farmers in the country has largely been constrained by poor access to land and farming tools, especially irrigation equipment. Access to modern irrigation infrastructure on the farms boosts the yield of crops.
Meanwhile, wheat crops yield higher returns when properly irrigated. The presentation of the pumping machines to the women smallholder farmers marked a needed upturn in women farmers’ aspiration to scale as well as support and meaningfully contribute to the ongoing Federal Government agricultural development programmes.
The recipients of the farming irrigation equipment are Lauratu Kassim, a 40-year-old wheat farmer with three years wheat farming experience; Maryam Ahmad, who has been practicing crop cultivation for many years but went fully into wheat farming four years ago, and Atika Shuaibu, another 40-year-old female farmer who started wheat farming two years ago. Shuaibu owns a very big farm where she plants rice and other crops and a wheat farm, but has no pumping machine for irrigation.
Other beneficiaries of the farming infrastructure support include Hasiya Muhammad, who has had to rely on her husband’s farming equipment to sustain operations on her farmland, and 40-year-old Liti Audu.
Special guest at the presentation of the irrigation equipment to the female farmers, Kano State Governor, Alhaji Umar Ganduje, ably represented by Faruk Sule Garo (Senior Special Adviser, Youth Empowerment), appreciated and applauded the effort of CFM in empowering women and investing in the agricultural sector, which helps in ensuring the livelihood of millions of Nigerians and in boosting the economy of the country.
Speaking about the intervention, Rauda Musa Umar, Wheat Development Programme Officer, CFM, said the organisation is committed to assisting the government achieve its food security and economic diversification agenda.
She said, “we will keep providing the necessary farming support and modern agronomic capacity-building training to local wheat farmers to boost wheat farming practices and yields in the country. Our focus is food security and improving livelihoods.”