Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project has expressed its readiness to collaborate with Dantata Foods and Allied Products Ltd for improved agricultural value chains, according to Project Communication Specialist , Ameen K. Yassar.
This was in line with the project’s objective to enhance linkages between smallholder farmers and the private sector, in order to improve production, storage, processing, off-taking and marketing of agricultural commodities.
The state Project coordinator, Malam Ibrahim Garba Muhammad disclosed this during a meeting with the management of company led by its chairman, Tajuddeen Aminu Dantata, in Kano recently.
As part of the crop products value addition and market access component of the project, he said farmers in Kano would be provided with specialised extension services and would be linked with off-takers of grains and food processors.
“Therefore, private sector actors like Dantata Foods will play a key role in off-taking crops like rice, maize, sorghum, soy beans, cowpea, groundnut, etc, produced by farmers in the state,” the Project Coordinator stated.
Ibrahim, also pointed that his project was ready to collaborate with the company in livestock development, specifically animal fattening and meat off-taking as well as commercial fodder development.
“The project will support investment in commercial large-scale fodder production in partnership with the private sector. It will identify 20 private sector investors interested in fodder production on plots of no less than 50 hectares each, assist them in the development of the pastures and provide them with harvesting and bailing equipment, in addition to marketing facilities”, he explained.
Ibrahim thanked Dantata Foods for expressing interest to partner with KSADP and reaffirmed commitment to support initiatives towards making agriculture a win-win venture for farmers and entrepreneurs.
In his remarks earlier, the chairman of Dantata Foods and Allied Products, Alhaji Tajuddeen Dantata, said his company has the potential to work with the project, as off-takers and producers of agricultural products.
“With your project, we can work together to solve the many problems facing the northern part of country. We have enormous potentials but we are not using them to our advantage. With this kind of arrangement, we can be self-sustaining,” he affirmed.
Dantata, said his company is interested in working with KSADP in the areas of grains off-take from farmers, commercial fodder production, livestock fattening, livestock off-take and halal meat certification as well empowerment of women and youth, through agriculture.
Source: ThisDay
