Nearly 9,000 Benue Farmers Benefit from Sasakawa Agricultural Extension Project

No fewer than 8,950 smallholder farmers across eight Local Government Areas of Benue State have benefited from agricultural extension and farmer development interventions by the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), with support from the Nippon Foundation.

The project is being implemented in Gwer East, Gboko, Tarka, Guma, Ushongo, Vandeikya, Buruku, and Konshisha Local Government Areas, in collaboration with the Benue State Ministry of Agriculture through the Benue State Bureau of Agricultural Development and Mechanisation. The intervention focuses specifically on helping farmers transition from subsistence production to commercial, market-oriented agriculture, with particular emphasis on soybean, maize, rice, and horticultural crops.

Speaking on Monday during a visit to some of the project sites, Nathaniel Otene, Technical Coordinator for Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Agri-Food Systems (CRAS), who also represented Country Director Godwin Atser in Gwer East and Gboko LGAs, said the programme was actively promoting climate-smart and regenerative farming practices among participating smallholder farmers.

According to Otene, farmers are being trained to produce compost using limited animal manure combined with green materials such as leaves, a technique designed to improve soil health while reducing dependence on inorganic fertilisers. He explained that the programme has also introduced improved and climate-resilient crop varieties, appropriate plant spacing, crop rotation, strip cropping, and the integration of legumes such as soybean to naturally replenish soil nutrients over time.

Otene noted that community members provide land and labour for demonstration plots, while SAA supplies technical support and selected farm inputs, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that farmers adopt these technologies permanently and continue applying them even after the project concludes. He explained that the programme operates through farmer learning platforms, with extension agents supporting community demonstration plots and groups of smallholder farmers across all eight participating local government areas.

At Cheedu in Gwer East, the visiting team also inspected an improved cassava agro-processing centre established by SAA with support from the Nippon Foundation, following a community assessment that identified a clear need for local processing facilities in the area. Dr Moshood Suleiman, Programme Officer for Safe, Adequate and Nutritious Food Production and Utilisation, explained that the centre is equipped with a cassava grater, two pressers, two cassava fryers, and a solar-powered borehole to ensure a reliable water supply for processing activities.

Beneficiaries who spoke during the visit, including Mary Ukamave and Richard Kwaghngu Aondofa from Gwer East, along with Ronald Gbatar from Luga in Gboko, commended SAA for exposing them to modern farming methods, improved crop varieties, organic manure production techniques, and better marketing strategies, all of which they said had increased both their yields and their earnings.

Aondofa, a farmer from Cheedu, said the training had transformed their farming practices and improved their prospects of producing more food for the market, stressing that farmers were now actively applying the knowledge gained on their own individual farms rather than only at the demonstration plots.

The visiting team also toured two community demonstration plots at Cheedu, where high-yielding maize and soybean varieties had been planted, with beneficiaries expressing optimism that the interventions would go on to improve agricultural productivity, household livelihoods, and overall food security within their communities.

The Sasakawa Africa Association has, over the years, positioned itself as a key technical partner supporting smallholder farmer development across several African countries, with its programmes typically emphasising climate-smart agriculture, improved crop varieties, and structured extension services designed to help farmers move beyond subsistence farming toward more commercially viable production. For Benue State, often referred to as Nigeria's "food basket" given its agricultural output, the intervention adds to a broader push by both state authorities and development partners to strengthen farmer productivity and resilience against the twin pressures of climate variability and market access challenges that have historically constrained smallholder agriculture across the state.