1 week Ago By Godwin Njoku
It is matter of public knowledge that Sokoto State,the home state of the late Sir. Ahmadu Bello,the Premier of Northern Region and President Shehu Shagari is richly endowed with huge agricultural potentials. This can equally be said of other states in the North- West zone, and indeed the entire Northern Nigeria.
The problem of the state like Nigeria itself is the devastating distraction from crude oil earnings which made every state to abandon its potentials for the cheap money from Abuja. But the worldwide economic downturn has forced states to look inwards to generate revenue and create jobs for their citizens. This statement of fact was restated as resolution Number Six in the communique of the recent meeting of the 19 Northern states governors with chairmen of the respective states traditional councils.
Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto,the Sokoto State Governor is doing precisely what needs be done without noise and prodding. A vital part of Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto’s 9-point transformative agenda is the resolve to drive prosperity for the good people of Sokoto State, through a well coordinated investment in the agriculture value chain. It is also not in doubt that Sokoto State, along with these other states of the North, have the capacity to eliminate, or drastically reduce, hunger in the country.
Optimal food and feed production in North Nigeria can improve food security in West Africa, boost economic growth in the region, and increase the rate of foreign exchange inflow from the export of surplus agricultural produce rather than the import of grains like maize and soybeans. The positive windfall will be massive, if only the respective governments, and other stakeholders, can key in to the Sokoto State template for optimal tapping of the enormous opportunities in the agricultural sector. On this note, the actions and intentions of the incumbent Sokoto State administration, under the purposeful leadership of Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto who has, quite commendably, assumed the front seat in the effort to revive agriculture and explore its latent goldmine is welcoming.
For Governor Aliyu, the focus on agriculture and rural development is not a fanciful choice, but a matter of urgent necessity. The smart choice considering that the majority of Sokoto State indigenous population earn their modest livelihood by engaging in one form of agricultural activity or the other. They are classified as poor because they do not produce enough from the lands to earn meaningful income support a decent living standard.
Therefore, any serious government that truly desires to uplift the quality of life, boost economic activities, and reduce the high incidence of poverty among the people in Sokoto state must pay serious attention to agriculture. As stated earlier in this commentary, the opportunities for farming, lifetock rearing, fishing and agro-allied processing in Sokoto state are huge, but largely untapped. The state is endowed with an estimated 1.
62 million hectares (4 million acres) of arable land, mostly well drained fertile alluvial soil, mostly underutilized or totally wasting. Despite the unreliable weather conditions, much of Sokoto arable land can support year-round farming activities, using irrigation water from Goronyo Dam and from lakes variously located in Lugu, Wamakko, Kalmalo and Kwakwazo, as well as the alluvial banks of Rima and other rivers. Dr Bashir Mohammed Achida, Special Adviser on Economic Matters to Governor Ahmad Aliyu, in a recent interview stressed the commitment of the incumbent administration in the state to cash in on the huge opportunities that abound in agricultural sector in the state and is working hard to convert the potentials to gainful reality, in the interest of the people.
He said when Dr. Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto came into office in May, 2023, he immediately swung into action to procure farm inputs like improved seeds, fertilizers and implements to support the farmers. And that the government intends to go beyond input supply, which many state governments do, or claim to do, yearly, but without making significant impacts on the quantity or quality of the farmers harvest.
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