The Senate has decried the loss of over N10 billion by ginger farmers in Southern Kaduna, calling for immediate intervention of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
This follows a motion sponsored by Sunday Katung (PDP Kaduna South) on the urgent need to address the outbreak of a deadly disease affecting ginger production in Southern Kaduna.
Katung says ginger has been grown in the Southern part of Kaduna since 1927, and it has steadily increased in its importance as a valuable commodity over the years.
He added that as a subset of the agricultural sector, ginger production has a significant impact on revenue generation and farmers income, thereby reducing the rate of poverty amongst the local farmers of southern Kaduna and the country at large
The Lawmaker expressed worry that the 2023 ginger season in Southern Kaduna has suffered significant setback due to outbreak of fungi pathogens infection destroying over 2,500 hectares of farmlands estimated at 10 Billion Naira across seven Local Government Areas of southern Kaduna State, significantly threatening Nigeria’s position on the world chart of ginger production
He added that the devastating and unprecedented ginger pandemic affects Nigeria’s non-oil export performance and is already affecting the lives of many individuals within the affected communities of southern Kaduna because ginger is their source of livelihood
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Senate mandated its Committee on Agricultural Production and Rural Development to interface with the National Agricultural Quarantine Services and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security towards conducting an immediate on- the-spot assessment tour of all affected areas of the ginger pandemic in Kaduna state.
Also, the Senate called on the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to immediately coordinate surveillance systems to collect, analyze and interpret data on this disease, towards the prevention of further spread or phytonosis.
The red chamber also mandated the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to immediately, and as a matter of particular urgency, provide palliatives to the affected ginger farmers of Southern Kaduna whose means of livelihood have been completely crippled by the disease that has destroyed their production of the rhizome.
(Editor: Ena Agbanoma)
