Agrolog General Services Limited has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to boost ginger production in Nigeria by empowering 60,000 smallholder farmers in vulnerable indigenous ginger farming communities in Kaduna State.
Through this initiative, farmers and the farming community will have access to mechanized tools, training and capacity building, farm mapping, standardization of measures, increased yields, improved processing, access to organized markets, and financial inclusion.
Agrolog, an agribusiness company specialized in the production and trade of agricultural commodities, agro logistics and various agricultural investments has been investing in the development of the ginger value chain since 2018.
Manzo Maigari, Managing Director, Agrolog Limited, explained that in addition to improving yields of ginger from 18 to 25 metric tons per hectare (MT/ha), the intervention will also create 60,000 on and off the farm jobs that will benefit the farmers and their communities by providing economic recovery, growth, and social stability.
“Ginger products such as ginger spices, powder, oil, medicine, tea, and tonic confectioneries hold massive opportunities for smallholder farmers across the entire value chain. From planting, harvesting, cleaning, cutting, processing, bagging, storage, and sales,” he said.
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Maigari said only smallholder farmers that belong to existing organized cooperatives within these local government areas can participate in the initiative, adding that farmers who are selected will receive support ranging from training to farming implements that they can immediately use on their farms to cultivate ginger and food crops.
Chidinma Lawanson, Country Head, Mastercard Foundation said the intervention is being supported through the Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program, which is targeted at offering timely support to mitigate the impending economic crises among the vulnerable indigenous communities.
She said families who have been economically paralyzed by the pandemic will recover through the steady and sustainable income stream gotten from ginger farming and processing, adding that the program also aims to avert further disruptions to the ginger supply chain because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The program targets the increase of ginger production which will create work opportunities for youth across the ginger value chain while alleviating an impending threat to food security and livelihoods, which has worsened overtime,” she said
Kakuta Irimiah, one of the beneficiaries lauded the initiative saying that the fertilizers and farm inputs provided have helped to expand her business, adding that she received training on how to apply the fertilizers and also construct drainages to prevent erosion from her farm.
“The Agrolog fertilizer I received helped me to produce more bags of ginger, I used to produce 30 bags per hectare and now I produce between 50 to 100 bags, in addition I now have healthy and quality products to supply,” she said.
