The Senator representing Southern Kaduna, Sunday Marshall Katung, has expressed fears that Nigeria may lose its position in the global market as the second-largest producer of ginger if farmers are not compensated.
This followed the loss of N12 billion worth of goods due to the fungal disease that affected ginger farmers in the area.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi, had confirmed the outbreak of the ginger blight epidemic in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory.
According to him, preliminary estimates show that farmers in Southern Kaduna alone lost over N12 billion.
Speaking at a one-day workshop, organised by the Senate Committee on Capital Market in collaboration with the Lagos Commodities and Future Exchange, in Abuja, the Senator lamented that ginger farmers may not return to farming as the rainy season approaches if they are not compensated for the loss they incurred during the outbreak of the deadly disease.
Katung observed, “If the ginger farmers are not encouraged by way of compensation, Nigeria may lose her position on the global stage as the second largest producer of the commodity.
“The losses the ginger farmers incurred as a result of the outbreak of the fungi pathogens during the last farming season were monumental.
“You have to compensate them as a way of encouraging them (farmers) to go back to farming. If that is not done, farmers would no longer be interested in farming, and we will lose our position in the world as a country.”