The Senate has raised an alarm over the staggering loss of more than N10 billion incurred by ginger farmers in Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State. Expressing deep concern for this agricultural crisis, the Senate is urgently seeking intervention from key bodies, including the National Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
According to punchng.com, This followed a motion sponsored by Sunday Katung (PDP, Kaduna South) on the urgent need to address the outbreak of a deadly disease affecting ginger production in Southern Kaduna.
Katung said ginger has been grown in the Southern part of Kaduna State since about 1927, and it has steadily increased in its importance as a valuable commodity over the intervening years.
He said, “Kaduna State ranks the highest in ginger production in Nigeria, contributing to Nigeria’s place as one of the largest producers of ginger in the world, with a production average of more than 300,000 tonnes during the five-year period 2014-2018, and a global market share of about 11 percent, trailing only India;
A subset of the agricultural sector, ginger production has a significant impact on revenue generation and farmer’s income, thereby reducing the rate of poverty amongst the local farmers of southern Kaduna and the country at large;
“Apart from its revenue-generating potential, the consumption of ginger has many health benefits ranging from the prevention of stomach ulcers, the reduction of nausea and vomiting amongst pregnant women, to chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients.”
Senator Katung noted that the 2023 ginger season in Southern Kaduna State has suffered a significant setback due to an outbreak of fungi pathogens infection destroying over 2,500 hectares of farmlands “estimated at N10bn across seven Local Government Areas of southern Kaduna State, thereby significantly threatening Nigeria’s position on the world chart of ginger production
He added that “This devastating and unprecedented ginger pandemic affects Nigeria’s non-oil export performance and is already affecting the lives of many individuals within the affected communities of southern Kaduna because ginger is their source of livelihood;
“Also, the public health risks of this deadly disease because research has revealed that organisms that affect plants may develop some sort of host jumping, with the mutation or development of the mechanism switching over to the host, and the pathogen that was earlier infecting plants changing and infecting human beings.;”
The Senate mandated its Committee on Agricultural Production and Rural Development to interface with the hierarchy of the National Agricultural Quarantine Services and its supervisory Ministry, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security towards conducting an immediate- on-the-spot assessment tour of all affected areas of the ginger pandemic in Southern Kaduna state.
Also, the Senate called on the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to immediately coordinate surveillance systems to collect, analyze, and interpret data on this disease, towards the prevention of the further spread of phytonosis.
The red chamber also mandated the National Emergency Management Agency to immediately, and as a matter of particular urgency, provide palliatives to the affected ginger farmers of Southern Kaduna whose means of livelihood have been completely crippled by the disease that has destroyed their production of the rhizome.
Seconding the motion, Sen Babangida Husaeini (APC, Jigawa North) said Kaduna South is producing high-quality ginger that is highly rated in the Middle East and other continents.
