Kano: Reviving The Agricultural Sector

By Mahdi Haliru

Socioeconomic development should be treated with a lot of economic sense and common sense because progressive governments priortises social and capital development projects.

Part of the first duty of his excellency the executive governor of Kano state - Dr. Ganduje - was he vowed to by and by design the master plan for the beautification of the state. I think his administration should give downstream agricultural sector more priority over urbanisation. This is mainly because the poor constitute a very large proportion of Kano population and predominant in the rural areas where farming culture is mainly practised.

Kano is heavily endowed with fertile farmland and water (dams and rivers); but unfortunately, neglect and mismanagement of these resources have made the farming under developed in the state. Small and medium farmers often recomend the irrigation farming period as the best period for having best result of farming outputs partly because the amount of water for the plantation is measurable. In this regard, the construction of more irrigation channels and revitalisation of the good old 'KADAWA' will greatly enhance and boost farming in the state.

Furthermore, farm inputs (fertiliser, improved seedlings and improved farm equipments precisely) should also be provided to small and medium farmers at subsidised rates - this will vastly boost agricultural production. One major headache to these farmers is the high cost of fertilizer, impoved seedlings and modern machinery. In this regard, the good old 'KASCO' should be resuscitated pronto as well as supplying the farmers with improved seedlings and modern machinery at subsidised rates.

Engr. Kwankwaso in 2011 said "Za'a bada tractaah! a bada patalyzaah! patalyzaah dan KASCO ba patalyzaah dan kasar waje wanda ake hehehehehe..." Gladly his administration started and these farmers appreciated the subsidy a lot and had excellent output because as they say, the home fertilizer is more effective and efficient than the foreign one. But unfortunately, it later stopped.

Again, the IPP idea is really remarkable. Besides attracting foreign investors, it will greatly impart to efficiency of irrigation lines and storage facilities for farm outputs. These storage facilities will preserve the farm outputs for the near future use. Bad condition of link roads should also be addressed.

The idea of investing heavily in the agricultural sector is to provide raw materials for industries and cause positive production and consumption effects. By production effect, the higher-cost import of agricultural products will be replaced with the lower-cost domestic production of these agricultural produce. By consumption effect, the consumption of the higher-cost imported produce will be replaced with the consumption of the lower cost domestic produce. More often than not there'll be increased export and by increased export, there'll be a hyper level of economic growth, employment and balance of payment.