Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal
By HARUNA AHMED, Sokoto –
Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal has pledged to provide more farmlands to farmers for Sesame cultivation to create over 100,000 jobs by 2022.
A statement issued on Monday in Sokoto by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the governor, Malam Muhammad Bello, said the governor made the pledge during the inspection of the produce cleaning and standardisation process.
“It is now clear that sesame can grow in Sokoto state and the government of the state is willing to continue to support the farmers generally and specifically those that are involved in sesame farming as we did last year.
“We have seen the positive impact and we are ready to do even more. If you don’t have a farm, go back to your local government area and register.
“Government is ready to provide more farmlands now to farmers. I hereby direct the Commissioner for Agriculture to liaise with the overseer of the ministry for local government affairs. This scheme should start immediately,” the governor said.
Tambuwal added that globally, the market size for sesame seed, which shrunk from 2017-2020 increased and currently fetches 1,075USD per metric tonne, a development occasioned by prominent expansion of its consumption worldwide.
“Therefore, all our farmers who are interested in having farmlands should go and register with the department of agriculture of the local government.
“This is in order to see how best we can encourage our people to go back to farm. It is very important,” he added.
Earlier the state Commissioner for Animal Health, Prof. Abdulkadir Junaidu, who is also overseeing the Ministry of Agriculture, said before the government intervention less than 10,000 hectares of sesame was cultivated annually in the state.
Junaidu further said in the past one year the state government in addition to its partnership with Turkish firm on sesame cultivation, has provided free seedlings of about 350,000 kilograms of the seed to farmers in the state.
“Additionally, 500 units of sprayers, 3,000 units of liquid fertiliser – both of NPK and Urea, as well as 10 motorcycles and one unit of Hilux vehicle for extension services were also provided for the venture,” he added.
He said the produce cleaning and standardisation process undertaken by the state ministry of agriculture has produced 30,000 bags of the sesame seeds.