Mallam Umaru Aliyu Huda is a 54-year-old resident of Huda Village in Kardi community of Birnin Kebbi LGA of Kebbi State. A father of 11 and community bicycle repairer, Mallam Umaru’s farming scope was less than a hectare of groundnut with a yield of two to three bags of 100kg (owing to crude farming methods) before intervention came his way – in the form of Best Agronomic Practices and SMART Skills training.
In 2015, he joined a Producer Group, participated in the three-year Best Agronomic Practices and SMART Skills where he received training on better, smart approaches to farming. Two years after, it is no longer business as usual. Mallam Huda has recorded successes – in terms of better farming approaches and improved yields: the use of improved varieties of groundnut and adoption of other best practices have resulted in a 133% increase in yield from 3 bags to 7 bags.
Now the lead farmer in his Producer Group, Mallam Huda enthuses: “I used to farm less than a hectare of groundnut which always gave me two to three bags of 100kg. After I attended the Best Agronomic Practices and SMART skills training, I realized many mistakes in my local practice and now things have changed.”
With this output, Mallam Huda made a wise choice: to concentrate more on groundnut production. His farm size has increased by 200% (from about 1 hectare to 3 hectares); he recently bought a work-bull and water-pumping machine for irrigation.