Nigeria risks losing world’s second-largest ginger producer, Katung warns

The senator from Kaduna-South, Barr. Sunday Marshall Katung, voiced concerned about the loss of N12 billion resulting from the fungal illness that devastated ginger growers.

He also expressed concern that if farmers are not compensated, Nigeria may lose its standing as the world’s second-largest producer of the item.

Recall that the ginger blight epidemic was reported to have broken out in Kaduna, Nasarawa, the Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory by Aliyu Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security.

He revealed that preliminary estimates show that farmers in southern Kaduna alone lost over N12bn.

The Senator who is representing the Southern Kaduna Senatorial Zone, disclosed at a one-day workshop, organised by the Senate Committee on Capital Market in collaboration with the Lagos Commodities and Future Exchange, in Abuja, lamented that ginger farmers may not return to farming as the rainy season approaches if they are not compensated for the loss they incurred during the outbreak of the deadly disease.

Katung who also expressed worry that if the ginger farmers were not encouraged to by way of compensation, Nigeria may lose her position on the global stage as the second largest producer of the commodity.

He emphasized, “The losses the ginger farmers incurred as a result of the outbreak of the fungi pathogens during the last farming season were monumental.

“You have to compensate them as a way of encouraging them (farmers) to go back to farming. If that is not done, farmers would no longer be interested in farming, and we will lose our position in the world as a country,” Sen.
Katung told the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security.