Safia Yahaya, 48, a mother of two who cultivates three crops in Kogi State, in the seventh episode of the new series, shares her episode with premium times (PT)

PT: Which crops do you cultivate?

Mrs Yahaya: I cultivate rice, cassava, and cashew.

PT: When did you start farming as a business?

Mrs Yahaya: I started farming about 20 years back.

PT: Land is often a major problem for women farmers. How have you overcome this in the last 20 years?

Mrs Yahaya: I started farming in the village where I made use of the family land until I relocated to town where I bought my own land.

PT: What is the size of the land?

Mrs Yahaya: The land is five hectares. Not very big.

PT: Nigerian farmers always find it difficult to get quality seeds. How do you get your seeds and where?

Mrs Yahaya: You are very correct and I am not exempted from these farmers. Sometimes, I get my seed myself, I have to preserve some of the seeds that I have. I get some from the anchor borrowers programme like in the rice aspect where I get rice for planting from the rice farmer association.

PT: How did you select these crop? And why are you not cultivating beans, sorghum and other crops?

Mrs Yahaya: I considered the soil, what grows well on our soil. I chose them because that’s what’s good for our land. If you plant something not good for the land you might not have much yield, so I plant these as they give me much yield. Secondly, for business. I farm to make money and take care of my basic needs.

PT: Have you heard of improved varieties?

Mrs Yahaya: Yes I have, like seeds from ABP are improved.

PT: Five hectares of land is quite large, do you use machines?

Mrs Yahaya: Yes I use machines, but gender-friendly machines like power tillers.

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