The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) has called on farmers to operate in clusters in order to boost agricultural productivity.
The Deputy Country Director of the Association, Dr. Gambo Abdulhamid, made the call on Saturday in Ringim intervention sites.
He said that working in clusters provides farmers with abundant opportunities and reduces the risk of individual losses.
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Dr. Abdulhamid stressed that cluster formations attract donor agencies, as many partners find it easier and more comfortable to work with working groups.
According to him, “When farmers work in clusters, they apply their various skills to a particular project, and when losses occur, it is easier to tackle it as a group.
“Whenever you work in teams, you will realize that your production will be higher than what you produce individually.
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“I urge you all to keep up working in your farmer clusters and network with other clusters in order to attract investors and partnerships,” the Deputy Director said.
Meanwhile, the Santalmawa Women Farmers Group briefed the Sasakawa delegation on the progress they recorded after being mobilized by the association to work in clusters.
Leader of the women farmer group, Mrs. Salamatu Shehu, admitted that they were not realizing much harvest before the formation of their group by Sasakawa.
She explained that other partners, such as the Women Farmers Association of Nigeria (WOFAN), have also worked with them because they were already in clusters.
Mrs. Shehu stressed that their productivity improved by almost 100 percent since the cluster was formed about three years ago.
Also, Mr. Isa Yahya, Secretary of the Santalmawa Farmers Group, said working in clusters has provided them an opportunity to invest more in their farming.
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“The fact we are many means we contribute money at intervals, and we raised a large amount, which we invested in rice and wheat, as opposed to the millet and groundnut that we used to produce.
“Working in groups has also provided us with relief because when we encounter losses, we all work towards addressing them, unlike we used to suffer in individual farming,” Yahya said.
The farmer groups in Santalmawa pledged to sustain their clusters and even form more for better productivity and better harvest.
Grassroots Parrot reports that Sasakawa Africa Association, a non-governmental organization working on agriculture, has interventions in over 500 communities in Jigawa state.
It conducts an annual media field tour to assess its successes and challenges in its interventions, with an aim to improve on them in the subsequent years.
