Success stories trail SAA’s Media Field Day in Gombe
Several success stories have been recorded from Sasakawa Africa Association’s (SAA) project being implemented in collaboration with the Gombe state Agricultural Development Programme (GSADP) in several communities of the state.
A cross-section of smallholder farmers in five different communities of Gombe state shared their pleasant experiences with journalists on Friday during the Media Field Day organised by SAA to showcase the activities of its project implementation as well as to measure successes and impact made so far.
Abigail Sumaila from Kalkulum community in Akko Local Government Area said the training had empowered women in her community especially in the area of processing and marketing of agricultural produce.
Sumaila said the impact of the training given to them by SAA and GSADP had enhanced the incomes of women farmers in her community through value chains.
“Before I just sell my paddy rice but since this Sasakawa training, I process my rice before selling. Then I made N10, 000 as profit monthly, but now after processing and selling my profit is over N50, 000.’’
According to her, women in her community are gradually becoming independent and taking responsibilities by contributing and providing for their households.
Sumaila noted that such had given dignity to women in their community as they now have incomes of their own to meet their needs and those of their children too.
Mrs. Louis Zakayo, the leader of the women group from Kalkulum community said SAA’s intervention had helped to boost productivity as a result of the inputs and modern technical knowledge given to them on good agricultural practices to get more from same farmlands.
Zakayo said they were taught how to properly cultivate as well as apply fertilizers and other techniques and “today we are happier and richer as smallholder farmers because of Sasakawa’s intervention and we have nothing to say than thank you.’’
In Amtawalam community in Billiri Local Government Area, Mr Michael Bukata said he had witnessed a lot of improvements in terms of productivity and the difference between his harvest now and prior to SAA’s intervention was incomparable.
“Before, where I normally cultivate and get four bags, I now get nearly ten bags. During harvest this year my joy increased because of the yields on my farmland.’’
He noted that some farmers in his communities were exposed to improved seedlings as well as extension services on farm management, timing with regard to planting, crops spacing as well as fertilizer application, adding that those techniques was a game changer for them.
The farmer said with SAA’s training and technical support, farmers had now realized that using old or traditional means of farming would only impoverish them and cause wastages of resources.
Bukata said the farmer’s group in his community now give loans and technical support to other farmers to enable them boost productivity and “when we harvest, we aggregate our produce and then market them which makes marketing easier for us.’’
In Awak community in Kaltungo Local Government Area, Mrs Talatu Ephraim, the leader of the women group in the community said Sasakawa’s support had impacted greatly on women in the community.
Ephraim stated that the community was now empowering other women through community loans to boost their productivity and improve on the wellbeing of their members.
According to her, over 28 women had been given various loans which they can repay with crops or cash, “all these are ideas from Sasakawa and we thank them.’’
She added that prior to SAA’s support and training, women usually sell a measure of rice for N300 but now that they had processed and packaged the rice well; “it’s looking good, we now sell for N600 for the same quantity and the patronage is higher.’’
Ephraim added that the project being implemented by Sasakawa Africa Association was helping to strengthen th
