POLITICS TODAY

A frontline civil society group, Kaduna Agricultural Value-Chain Advancement Forum (KAVCAF), has declared Governor Uba Sani’s mechanisation-driven and risk-protection agricultural policy “unmatched by any subnational government in Nigeria.”

In a statement signed by its Chairman – Mamman Nasir Rafinguza on Monday, the Forum highlighted the deployment of hundreds of tractors, about 500 power tillers and nearly 10,000 solar-powered water pumps, alongside the insurance coverage of over 100,000 smallholder farmers, as decisive actions that have repositioned agriculture from subsistence to enterprise in Kaduna State.

According to KAVCAF, the scale of mechanisation has drastically reduced production time and labour costs, expanded cultivable acreage and improved yields across major farming corridors in the state.

“What Kaduna is experiencing is not routine intervention but structural reform. Mechanisation has removed the manual bottleneck, while solar-powered irrigation has unlocked year-round farming,” the Forum said.

The group described the extension of agricultural insurance to over 100,000 farmers as the most strategic aspect of the policy, noting that it shields farmers from climate shocks, crop failure and market volatility.

“By de-risking agriculture, Governor Uba Sani has transformed farming into a bankable, investor-ready enterprise capable of attracting youth participation and private capital,” the statement added.

KAVCAF stressed that the combined effect of mechanisation and risk protection is already strengthening agricultural value chains, boosting farmer confidence and positioning Kaduna as a leading hub for commercial agriculture in Northern Nigeria.

The Forum called on financial institutions, agro-processors and development partners to align with what it described as “Kaduna’s emerging agribusiness ecosystem under Uba Sani’s leadership.”

“Kaduna is no longer farming by chance; it is farming by design,” the group concluded.