FG: Abuja Farmers, Others Have Lost N12bn To Ginger Disease

The Federal Government, on Monday, has disclosed the outbreak of ginger blight epidemic in four states in Nigeria, adding that ginger farmers have lost over N12bn due to the disease.

This was disclosed at the inauguration of the National Ginger Blight Epidemic Control Taskforce in Abuja and revealed that the fungal disease had inflicted significant damage on ginger farms in Kaduna, Nassarawa Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi, noted that the blight had caused billions of naira in losses, impacting not only the livelihoods of farmers, but also Nigeria’s position as the world’s second-largest ginger producer.

He said, “Our preliminary estimates suggested that affected farmers in southern Kaduna lost over N12bn.

“Furthermore, considering that over 85 per cent of Nigeria’s ginger cultivation occurs in this region, we can safely assume a substantial loss of cultivated land, potentially exceeding 70 per cent of total land."

However, Abdullahi said the Federal Government through the National Agricultural Development Fund would launch a N1.6bn recovery package for affected farmers in ginger-producing areas.

On his part, the Chairman of the task force committee, Abubakar Abdullahi, expressed there was no doubt that the blight on ginger had negatively affected the Gross Domestic Product earnings from this subsector.

He said, “It is of necessity and great urgency that various subcommittees are put in place to forestall these negative effects."