No fewer than 5,119 rice farmers in Nasarawa State have benefited from climate-smart technologies and training in good agronomic practices introduced by Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), an NGO, with great impact on yield in the state.
Some of the benefitting farmers who spoke on Thursday during the 2025 Mega Field Day visit to Assakio and Yalwata Wuji communities in Lafia Local Government Area by the SAA team and other partners said the intervention had impacted their rice yield and livelihood greatly.
Mr Abdullahi Ibrahim and Dauda Agum, both rice farmers in Yalwata Wuji, said that they were taught how to prepare nursery beds for rice and transplant rice in rolls as against the usual broadcast method.
Ibrahim said, “This new method has helped to reduce seed wastage and improved yield in my farm.
“Where I usually use up to a basin of rice to broadcast, I now use about 16 kilograms of rice seed to plant, and I get more than double the harvest I got using the broadcast method.”
Agum also corroborated Ibrahim’s assertion, saying, “I am over 60 years old and have been farming all my life, but Sasakawa intervention through the technology and training has made me realize how much I have been suffering.
“I used to get about 18 bags of rice from one hectare, but now I get over 30 bags using the new method of planting rice and deep application of fertilizer.”
Mr Abdullahi Yusuf, a farmer in Assakio, said that he had become the envy of other rice farmers in the community given the bumper yield from the adoption of the technology and new agronomic practices.
“I now sell seeds to other farmers, introduce them to the new technology, and teach them how to apply same in their farms,” he said.
Alh. Idris Garko, Facilitator of the project being implemented by SAA in Nasarawa State, explained that it was funded by Japan’s Policy and Human Resource Development Grant (PHRDG) through the African Development Bank.
According to Garko, the project aims to mitigate the effects of climate change and promote regenerative agricultural practices to increase food and nutrition, agricultural productivity, and household incomes.
He noted that the three-year project being implemented in Lafia, Doma, and Akwanga Local Government Areas had so far directly reached 5,119 farmers with ripple effects on other farmers in the state.
Garko explained that the farmers were trained on climate-smart technologies such as the production of biochar, a compost manure made from partially burnt rice husk, that helps to improve the soil texture and water retention capacity.
“The farmers were also introduced to the use of Urea Super Granules (USG) fertilizers, as well as trained on modern agronomic practices.
“They were also given inputs such as improved rice seeds, fertilizers (USG), insecticides, herbicides, and biochar to enable them to carry out farming activities during the rainy and dry seasons,” he said.
He noted that the issue of climate change had become a major challenge mostly created by human activities that tend to deplete the ozone layer, hence the need for farmers to adopt climate-smart practices.
“We know that when farmers broadcast fertilizers, there are volatile elements called nitrates that escape into the atmosphere, which also affects the ozone layer.
” We, therefore, introduced to them the USG fertilizer, which they had to bury in the soil, and it dissolves gradually to the root of the plant where it’s needed,” he said.
Garko commended the farmers for adhering to the teachings, which had helped them to improve their yields.
In his remarks, Mr. Godwin Atser, the Country Director of SAA, represented by the Technical Coordinator of Regenerative Agriculture of the NGO, Dr. Bello Shehu, noted that the intervention was yielding the desired results in the state.
He promised that the organization would continue to support the farmers to improve their livelihoods and encouraged them to cascade the training to other farmers in their communities.
Earlier, Mrs Salome Sabo, State Coordinator, SAA appreciated the farmers and other partners for gracing the field visit.
Sabo reiterated the organization’s continuous commitment to supporting farmers to increase their yield.
The other partners who were part of the field visit included Dr. Razack Adeoti, representing Technologies for Africa Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) from the Republic of Benin.
Others are Mr. Oyelude Joseph, a Research Technician from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, as well as Umar Nuhu from Nasarawa Agricultural Development Programme (NADP), amongst others. (NAN).