Katsina: Using Songhai initiative to address unemployment, food security and self-sufficiency

The Katsina Songhai initiative is an agricultural scheme carefully designed to address the teeming unemployment among the youths, and to
guarantee food security and self-sufficiency.

The thrust of the scheme is to provide training on modern techniques of both production and processing of cash crops and indeed other crops
including maize, sorghum, millet, beans, cassava,rice, wheat and different kinds of fruits by adding value to them. This, it is believed, will be a base for earning more income from agriculture.

Three years into the scheme, its benefits are beginning to manifest, as processed crops and fruits are flooding markets for people to have a
feel of what it was meant to be. About N3.4 billion was set aside for the scheme, which draws inspiration from the Songhai Regional centre in Porto Novo, Benin Republic.

Three selected farms were established at Zobe, Mairuwa and the Sabke dam on over 5000 hectares of land. Structures were built and
instructors deployed to teach and guide prospective farmers towards embracing agriculture as a business.

Greater attention is placed on honey production, honey processing, honey packaging, fisheries production, fishery management, poultry and
livestock production, animal husbandry, crops and cereals production, among many others. Other areas of the initiative include trainings on
modern techniques of breeding and rearing of different animals, including sheep, cows, goats, guinea fowls, grass cutter and turkey.

The scheme was conceived in such a way that about 50,000 youths all-year round are to be engaged in agriculture-related activities to earn a
living from. Speaking at the launching of the initiative three years into its operation, the state governor, Ibrahim Shema, said it is a dream come true for his administration to see the dividends of the scheme beginning to manifest. Gov Shema noted that “when the first set of 60 youths were sponsored to Port Novo in Benin Republic to undertake training from the mother institute was the beginning of the seed we sowed towards using agriculture to address our peculiar problems.

He said, the initiative has succeeded in mass production of various crops with a view to boosting food production, enhancing the economic position of the participating youths,contributing to reducing unemployment and engendering industrialization. Mass production of fruits which have been preserved in well-packaged cans and bottles, the governor disclosed, are competing favourably in various markets.

According to him, the successes recorded so far must be sustained by the incoming administration, noting that “I’m a fulfilled man in seeing the benefits of the scheme being derived.” He mentioned the only problem encountered so far in the project has as the technicalities that have not enabled a full take-off at the Sabke dam because of government bureaucracy. “The dam is owned by the federal government and the irrigation sites are yet to be released, but we have relocated to the other side on which we have paid compensation to landowners and work has commenced in earnest,” he said.

In his remarks at the occasion, former president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umar Abdullahi advocated for the sustenance of the scheme in
view of its importance in nation-building. Justice Abdullahi noted that its benefits are beginning to manifest for all to see.He said there is the need for the establishment of three specialised agricultural secondary schools in each of the state’s senatorial zone to capture youths in their prime to engage in agriculture.

Chairman of the All Farmers Association in the state, Yau Gwajo-Gwajo said the initiative has proven to be an avenue to shift attention to
agriculture from dependence on oil which, he pointed out, has been crumbling in the international market. Gwajo-Gwajo said greater economies worldwide are using agriculture to develop, an initiative he advised should be accepted wholly so that “in the nearest future state resources that are dwindling can be augmented or even based on that.”

Some of the participating trainees at the center expressed their appreciation for being part of the scheme, which, they said, has tremendously
impacted positively on their lives as they have become self-reliant and earning a living from farming.

Source' http://dailytrust.com.ng/sunday/index.php/business/20799-katsina-using-songhai-initiative-to-address-unemployment-food-security-and-self-sufficiency

katsina is leading the way in modern farming in d north... kudos