Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa state said Thursday that the state is targeting two million tonnes of wheat for national food sufficiency and export.
The governor said this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinibu.
He said Nigeria has the capacity to export wheat with the current deliberate plan to attain self-sufficiency.
The governor said the President was in support of the state government’s wheat production programme and has assured of the full support of the federal government to ensure the production of the projected two million tonnes of wheat become a reality.
He said the President commended the state government for allocating 40,000 hectares of land in the state to the National Wheat Development Programme.
“The issue is what we’re doing now, the minimum we’re expecting is about four tonnes per hectare. Now four tonnes per hectare and we’re doing 40,000 hectares. in fact, this 40,000 are the ones which we have received support from the federal government. We are doing more than that.
“We can have about 50,000 hectares going on of people that are doing it on their own. So, at least with the essential services we have provided and with all the support we have provided for land clearing, especially for harrowing that we have supported the farmers, that has given them an opportunity to cultivate more.
“Somebody who was doing one hectare now is ready to do more hectares because of the support he has from the federal government and from the support he has from the state government, multiply that by 40,000 hectares, official one, we are doing plus about 10,000 hectares.
“We are doing, plus minimum of four tonnes per hectare, some people are making 6 tonnes per hectare, but we are taking just the minimum, so definitely, I think the future is very bright,” he said.
“Certainly, we are going to export wheat over time….We’re doing the first one, and then after this one, we’re going for rice, and the next one, we’re going to wheat, that’s how the cycle will continue to go. Definitely, we’re going to have food sufficiency and we’ll definitely have surplus to export.
“We are number one in wheat in Nigeria. So, the issue is we have already made a difference because we are number one. And then today like I told you out of 120,000 hectares for Nigeria, Jigawa state alone is given 40,000 hectares and that shows that we are making a difference,” he said.
