The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) said it has offered N1.6 billion in support to ginger farmers in three states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Mohammed Abu Ibrahim, the Executive Secretary of the fund, made this known during the inauguration of a task force aimed at controlling the ginger blight epidemic held yesterday in Kaduna.
He said the support was provided under the Ginger Recovery Advancement and Transformation for Economic Empowerment (GRATE) initiative.
He also said the recent ginger blight epidemic affected around 15,000 ginger farmers from Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory.
He said the epidemic happened when the country started witnessing considerable growth in ginger exports.
According to Ibrahim, data from the National Bureau for Statistics (NBS) shows that revenue from ginger exports surged by 17%, reaching N10 billion in the second quarter of 2023 compared to N4.6 billion during the same period in 2022.
He said under the support programme, each ginger farmer will receive one 20kg bag of high-yield seed variety, four 50kg bags of NPK fertiliser, two 50kg bags of urea, and two 1kg bags of fungicide to aid in the improvement of ginger production.
