3 Years After Blight Outbreak, BOA Projects $3bn Ginger Economy

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The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) has projected that Nigeria’s ginger industry could rebound and generate about $3 billion in economic value within the next five years

The bank said the federal government intervention to revive ginger production following the devastating 2023 ginger blight outbreak has begun to yield results in Kaduna State.

According to bank’s managing – director, Ayodeji Sotinrin, who who visited farms in Kachia Local Government area of Kaduna State to inspect mature crops and harvested ginger,Nigeria’s ginger production could rise to three million tonnes within five years if the ongoing recovery programme and planned expansion of cultivation were sustained.

He said about 3,400 farmers had benefited from the programme across 15 farming clusters, with support including ginger planting materials and agricultural extension services.

In a statement, the bank said, the intervention, which began last year, is aimed at restoring production and rebuilding the country’s ginger industry after the disease caused extensive losses in major producing communities.

Ginger blight struck Nigeria’s ginger-producing areas in 2023, particularly in Kaduna State, one of the country’s leading ginger-producing locations.

The outbreak devastated farms, destroyed a substantial share of the crop and inflicted heavy losses on farmers and other participants in the value chain. The disruption affected production and the livelihoods of farming communities that depended on the commodity.

However, Sotinrin said the bank was working to expand the programme by using some of the harvested ginger as planting material for tissue culture, a process that could support large-scale multiplication and distribution to more farmers.

He explained that the process involved taking ginger rhizomes to tissue culture laboratories for multiplication before transferring the resulting plantlets to nurseries, where they would be developed into seedlings for distribution.

The BOA managing director said the bank was also working towards establishing nurseries to support ginger production in 16 states, expanding cultivation beyond the communities currently covered by the intervention.

The programme involves collaboration among the federal government, the Kaduna State government , agricultural institutions, local authorities, traditional leaders and farmer groups.

Projecting the potential economic returns from the planned expansion, Sotinrin said the production target could create opportunities for farmers to increase their earnings.

“The people that you’ll call poor farmers or vulnerable farmers, they’re the ones that will be making N70 to N80 million per hectare, not me,” he said, referring to the potential earnings from ginger cultivation.

He added that BOA was providing financing at an interest rate of nine per cent, in line with the Federal Government’s directive to make agricultural credit more affordable.

Sotinrin acknowledged the contributions of President Bola Tinubu, the Kaduna State government , the Kachia local government chairman, village heads, cluster heads and BOA staff to the programme. He also credited the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) with supporting efforts to restore ginger production.

In the statement, the bank noted that the chairman of Kachia local government Area, Manzo Daniel Maigari, said ginger blight destroyed about 90 per cent of production in the area, leaving many farmers without their main source of livelihood.

He said farmers received support, including alternative agricultural inputs, after the outbreak, but production had yet to return to its former level.

According to Maigari, the sector had recovered to about 30 per cent of its previous capacity. He expressed optimism that sustained assistance could accelerate the recovery within the next two years.

He also highlighted women’s participation in ginger farming, saying the programme had set a target of at least 50 per cent female participation. However, he did not provide the number of women currently participating.

The bank said the programme is supported by Agrolog, which coordinates farmers into clusters and provides extension services to guide cultivation and monitor crop development.

Agrolog’s operations manager, Cham Datiyoung Yakubu, said the cluster system helped organise farmers and provide support throughout the production process.

“Our role is to provide extension services and coordinate these farmers, which we did. We formed them into clusters,” Yakubu said.

He added that the intervention included internally displaced farmers affected by insecurity. More than 900 displaced farmers had been included in one cluster and were expected to begin harvesting within three weeks of the earlier assessment.

Yakubu said security concerns had restricted physical visits to the cluster, but reports from extension monitoring indicated that the crops were developing well.

The cluster heads involved in the programme, Malachy Gadani of Gidan Tagwai Ginger Farmers and Caleb Dallah of Ibika farmers group , thanked BOA for the intervention, saying it would help farmers recover from losses caused by ginger blight.

A beneficiary, Blessing Ali, also thanked the bank for its support.

Sotinrin also said the bank was working with the federal government on interventions across other agricultural value chains to improve farmers’ earnings and strengthen production.

He cited the Guaranteed Minimum Price programme for maize, which he said was designed to support farmers when market prices fell and encourage them to sustain production.

According to him, the federal government had intervened in the maize market by purchasing produce at a guaranteed floor price, a move he said had helped raise prices and encouraged farmers to return to their farms.

Sotinrin also disclosed that the bank was exploring ways to support cassava farmers by working with processors of cassava derivatives to purchase produce left on farms and offer farmers better prices.

He said the broader interventions were intended to strengthen food production, protect farmers from severe market fluctuations and improve the viability of farming.

According to the bank, the 15 clusters participating in the ginger revival programme are Assako 1, Matankadi Farms, Utro Akyi Muli Cooperative, Mothercat, Mission Farmers, CM Cluster, Maigidas, Zisshya, Gidan Tagwai Ginger Farmers, Sakainu Farmers Cooperative, Kachia Urban, Maraba Farmer, Bazachat Farmers, Ibika Farmers Group and Jerry Farms.

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