Gombe Farmers Encouraged to Cultivate Early Maturing Crops

Farmers in Gombe State have been urged to plant more early maturing varieties of crops for the 2021 wet season farming.

This charge was made by officials of the state government at a recent seminar conducted by the State Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.

Speaking at the seminar, director from the ministry, Dr Joseph Kaltungo stated that the charge was as a result of the weather prediction report by the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET).

Kaltungo who delivered a report detailing the amount of rainfall in each of the 11 Local Government Areas of the State, identified areas that could cope with weather uncertainties.

“Farmers in the South and Central parts of the state will have no problem planting early, middle, or late maturity varieties of crops,” he said.

On his part, commissioner of the ministry, Magaji Gettado stated that “the sensitization is for farmers to understand the crux of farming methodology before, during and after each cropping season given the fast-changing climatic conditions.”

He added that the State Government was committed to keeping Gombe farmers up-to-date with modern farming techniques to guard against avoidable losses during and after each cropping season.

The commissioner elaborated on the need for farmers to better understand the key factors involved in cultivating some certain farm produce to achieve optimum yield given the meteorological reports indicating differentials of rainfall in different locations.

The ministry, he noted, has a comprehensive list of genuine farmers in the State which acts as a precursor to get in touch with them, from time to time whenever a Government intervention program arises.

He assured farmers of extending the seminar to the senatorial districts in the State, to have comprehensive coverage of all farmers and stakeholders in the state.