Mastercard Foundation and Agrolog General Services Limited (AGSL), have partnered to empower 60,000 smallholder farmers to boost the production of ginger in the country.
The Country Head, Mastercard Foundation, Ms. Chidinma Lawanson, said its partnership with AGSL is poised to drive immense production of ginger and create work opportunities for youth across the ginger value chain.
She stressed that the collaboration will also alleviate the impending threat to food security and livelihoods, which has worsened with the ongoing pandemic.
“The intervention is being supported through the Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program, which is targeted at offering timely support to mitigate the impending economic crises among the vulnerable indigenous communities. The intervention is also aimed at averting further disruptions to the ginger supply chain because of the COVID-19pandemic,” Lawanson said
Similarly, the Managing Director of Agrolog Limited, Dr. Manzo Maigari, explained that in addition to improving yields of ginger from 18 metric tons per hectare (MT/ha) to 25MT/ha, the intervention would also create 60,000 on and off the farm jobs that will benefit the farmers and their communities by providing economic recovery, growth, and social stability.
A participant of the initiative, Ms. Kakuta Irimiah, lauded the partnership between the Mastercard Foundation and AGSL, saying that the fertilizers and farm inputs they provided have helped to expand her business.
“The Agrolog fertilizer I received helped me to produce more bags of ginger. I used to produce 30 bags per hectare and now I produce between 50 to 100 bags. I have also received training on how to apply the fertilizers and how to construct drainages to prevent my farm from being washed away by erosion. Before this time, the colour of my produce was yellowish but now, it is greenish which a sign of healthy and quality produce is,” she said.