Smallholder farmers in Nasarawa State have expressed delight with new rice production technologies introduced by Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), a Japan-funded international non-profit organsation.
The “Bokashi and Biochar” technologies help in decarbonisation of rice production to address issue of climate change, improve crop yield and maintain soil health.
Some of the farmers bare their minds to newsmen during the 2023 SAA media field trip on Tuesday in Lafia and Doma Local Government Areas of the state.
Secretary of Dacewa Multi-purpose Cooperative, Shabu Community in Lafia, Mr Ngali Ali, said the technologies had greatly improved their yield.
He said that the new technologies were more cost effective in terms of quantity of seeds, fertilisers and produced better output.
“Before, in planting rice, we broadcast and you can hardly harvest 10 bags from a hectare of land. However, with this technologies, the story is different.
“You can imagine, we have harvested four 135 kilorammes bags of rice from this pilot plot of 20/50 metres.
“In fact, Sasakawa has exposed us to the real technologies in rice production – from land preparation, nursery, transplanting and the production of organic fertiliser,” he said.
Ali said the output from their pilot field had made them a reference point for other farmers from the community, who were coming to learn and apply same in their farms.
Ezoic
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Another Farmer, Hussaini Mohammed, said the training by SAA had also enabled them to learn further on how to produce organic fertilisers leveraging digital apps.
In Doma, Chairman, Amoyi Rice Farmers, Mr Ahmed Musa, said the impact of SAA on their production was remarkable.
He said the group comprised of 30 members, who were also taught on how to aggregate their produceand sell to make profit.
According to him, the group has been able to acquire a 200/200 metre plot of land from their income among other benefits.
SAA’s Technical Coordinator, Regenerative Agriculture, Mr Ibrahim Fagge, explained that the “Bokashi and Biochar” technologies helped to reduce excess carbon emission in rice production with the resultant effect on climate change.
“Here, we taught them how to use Urea super granules to bury them in the soil as against their usual practice of broadcasting. This will in a way, reduce the emission of gas from the fertiliser.
“Aside decarbonisation, we know that most farm lands in the country are low in fertility and given the growing cost of fertilizer, we want to look at how to farmers can have some relief using the ‘Bokashi and Biochar’ technologies for organic fertiliser production.
“The materials are affordable and accessible – majorly rice husk and other decomposing items and the farmers were taught on how to incorporate it in their frms during land preparation.
“This will help improve the physical, chemical and biological property of the soil and repair its structure and texture for a very long time,” he said.
Fagge said that SAA was committed to supporting smallholder farmers to improve their production to address food shortage.