Farmers under the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP-AF) in Kogi are celebrating a bumper dry season rice harvest.
The farmers, who cultivated rice on various hectares of farmland, appreciate Kogi VCDP for providing them with essential farm inputs, including improved rice seedlings, fertilisers, harvesting equipment and capacity building training.
The farmers attributed their success to the support they received from the VCDP, which included training on good agronomic practices and provision of critical farm inputs.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, at Magajiya Ijiho Cluster rice farmland in Lokoja, some of the farmers thanked VCDP for the intervention, saying it had increased their yield.
A farmer, Sule Mohammed, said that the dry season rice harvest had brought joy to VCDP farmers in the state, because they were witnessing a significant increase in their rice yield.
“As VCDP farmers in Kogi, we have every reason to celebrate having witnessed a remarkable increase in our dry season rice harvest,
“The variety of improved rice seedlings given to us with fertiliser and training, have greatly improved our yield.
“Our old seeds always take like five to six months before harvest, but now with the improved seeds, three months we are done.
“We thank God, with Kogi VCDP intervention we now have lock-up shops to keep and preserve our products to sell to the processors.
“We presently sell 100kg of rice paddy at N42, 000 per bag, and the Hausas are coming from the North to buy and load our rice in trailers,” Mohammed said.
Another farmer, Mohammed Musa, said the VCDP support was instrumental in their success of bumper harvest in the dry season.
