ibironkeeniola 
The Kaduna State Government in partnership with Golden Agri Inputs, an agro-allied firm, has launched an initiative known as “Project YALWA” (Abundance), to support farmers in the state.
Project YALWA is targeted at increasing the production of maize and soybeans in the state, with higher quality and competitive pricing.
This was revealed during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the State Government and the agricultural firm in Kaduna.
Discussing the project, Programme Lead and Head of Commercial Golden Agri Inputs, Mr. Olushola Fashedemi, stated that the initiative was targeted at increasing the availability of maize as raw material and for nutrition in the country.
“The programme is touching on the Soybean value chain which is very important especially to Flour Mills because it is our key value chain. Flour Mill is one of the largest users of raw materials in the way of commodities in Nigeria, we use upwards of over 300 metric tonnes of maize alone.
“It is on this premise that our chairman ensures that we are able to develop raw material availability in the country and impact on food security, which entails us going to the farm gates and giving farmers good agronomic practices extension and making available much-needed inputs.
“We are working with the best quality for seed, we are working with Corteva agric science, hybrid seed best performing company, we can also boast of one of the best quality fertilizers in the country, which we do under the Golden Fertilizer brand,” he said.
According to Fashedemi, the firm has engaged in the monitoring, evaluation and reporting of farmer activities in partnership with CBN and different state governments.
“The MoU took a lot of design of what people find commonplace, working with smallholder farmers with one-hectare farmland, while in Kaduna State we tried to put a commercial justification for it,” he spoke on the partnership.
On his part, State Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Halima Lawal, said the project would lift smallholders, while urging farmers to leverage the opportunity offered them.
The event also featured the presentation of hybrid seed corn, 50kg 20:10:10 NPK fertilizers and 25kg Soybean seeds and chemicals to various families.
SOURCE: AGRONIGERIA