Zamfara State: A Treasure Trove of Agriculture and Mineral Wealth Beckons Investors
By: Zagazola Makama
Zamfara State is rich in arable lands, pastures, water bodies, and mineral deposits. The prolific abundance of agriculture and mineral deposits provides opportunities for the inhabitants to practice crop and livestock production as well as mining in commercial quantities.
Agriculture and gold mining are the state’s main occupations, providing foodstuffs, raw materials, and employment opportunities for the people, with over 80 percent of the population engaged in agriculture, hence the slogan “farming is our pride.”.
Major crops such as millet, guinea corn, maize, rice, groundnut, cotton, tobacco, and beans, while minerals include iron ore, gold, chromate, granite, clay, limestone, chamovita, quartz, and kaolin.
However, the state is one of the poorest in Nigeria and has one of the highest incidences of extreme poverty (over 60% of the population), according to the 2018 World Bank data.
Agriculture and mining attracted thousands of people to the state, seeking alternative means of livelihood and greener pasture. The trend led to spontaneous population growth within the last few years, thus exhausting scarce state resources and causing environmental and security threats as well as developmental concerns.
The state’s population rose to about 10 million, according to 2021 data by the National Population Commission (NPC). This led to increased demand and competition over scarce lands already affected by the impact of climate change. This led to loss of livelihoods, poverty, and conflict between farmers and herders.
In the last decade, Zamfara, like its neighbours in the North-West region, has been engulfed by banditry, kidnapping, and other crimes that threatened the social fabric and economy of the state. Many people lost their lives and thousands were displaced, while large-scale destruction of public and private properties was being perpetrated by the bandits, resulting in a serious humanitarian crisis.
Upon his inauguration on May 29, 2023, Dauda Lawal inherited Zamfara in a state of bankruptcy characterised by decayed institutions, wide-spread poverty, and hunger among the citizens, thus eroding the confidence of the people in the ability of the government to navigate the security and economic challenges bedevilling the state.
To break the shackles of poverty and address the myriad of problems bedevilling the state, Dauda Lawal’s administration initiated viable empowerment and social and economic infrastructure development programmes to build a secure, peaceful, and prosperous state.
Despite inheriting an empty treasury, Governor Dauda Lawal has made major strides in key sectors to rescue and rebuild Zamfara under his Six Smarts Agenda.
Importantly, agriculture is critical to the administration’s policy programme, which aims at ensuring economic diversification, poverty reduction, enhanced wealth creation, and boosting the state’s revenue base towards achieving sustainable social and economic development in the state.
To fully achieve economic diversification, Lawal’s administration implemented proactive security measures in concert with the security agencies to protect lives and property, so as to enable farmers to cultivate their farmlands and encourage the growth of businesses in the state.
To this end, Lawal demonstrated a high commitment to curbing the lingering banditry and kidnapping through the establishment of the Zamfara Community Protection Guards (CPG), the pioneer security guard corps in the North-West region.
Members of the guard corps underwent rigorous physical training to prepare them to assist security agencies with credible intelligence to combat insecurity. It has been very helpful in foiling bandit attacks in villages and towns across the local government areas of the state. This has given farmers and other people hope for safety and security.
Other interventions by the governor included the provision of logistics and equipment to the security agencies, such as the fueling of patrol armoured vehicles, the repair of patrol vehicles to improve the security presence throughout the state, and the conduct of periodic meetings of the State Security Committee.
Also, the Lawal administration, through collaborative operations with the security agencies, successfully neutralised key bandit kingpins, including Kachalla Ali Kawaje, the mastermind of the abduction of students of the Federal University of Gusau.
Others are: Kachalla Jafaru; Kachalla Barume; Kachalla Shehu; Tsoho; Kachalla Yellow Mai Buhu; Yellow Sirajo; and Kachalla Dan Muhammadu; Kachalla Makasko; Sanda; Abdulbasiru Ibrahim; Mai Wagumbe; Kachalla Begu; Kwalfa; Ma’aikaci; Yellow Hassan; Umaru Na Bugala; Isyaka Gwarnon Daji; Iliya Babban Kashi; Auta Dan Mai Jan Ido; and Yahaya Dan Shama.
Following this development, farmers in communities hitherto not practicing crop production due to insecurity are being encouraged to cultivate their farms and engage in other businesses.
Apart from security intervention, the Dauda Lawal’s administration initiated sound extension and farmer support services to encourage productivity, add value to the produce, and enhance farmer enterprising skills.
The administration plans to empower 100,000 farmers under the Fadama III programme across the 14 local government areas in the next four years, while fertilisers, seeds, and inputs have been distributed to over 40,000 farmers in Bungudu, Maru, Gusau, Shinkafi, Anka, Gumi, and Tsafe, among others.
More than 700 power tillers and farming implements were also distributed to farmer groups across the 14 LGAs.
This is to increase food security and ensure the safe functioning of food supply chains for vulnerable households in the state.
Speaking at a fertiliser distribution exercise in Bungudu early this year, Lawal said, “We are bringing tremendous opportunities for the farming communities.
“I am confident that this programme will go a long way to boosting our farmers’ productivity, thereby alleviating rural poverty and its associated challenges.
“Building on this momentum, we plan to introduce similar intervention projects, such as the integrated entrepreneurship programme. This programme will encompass various agro-allied projects, including fisheries, poultry, and livestock fattening.
“Additionally, it will provide training and starter packs to small-scale businesses in various sectors, contributing significantly to our economic diversification efforts.”.
“In line with our commitment to enhancing agricultural productivity, my administration will be embarking upon the rehabilitation of earth dams, and provision for this has been made in the 2024 budget. This initiative will provide employment opportunities for over 40,000 farmers and play a crucial role in feeding more than two million people annually.”
Undoubtedly, these interventions have made positive impacts on the lives of the people in the state, as buttressed by Salisu Ahmadu, a maize grower in Bungudu, who commended the initiative.
Ahmadu said that improved security in the state and farmer support services encouraged them to cultivate their farmlands.
He said that prior to the Lawal administration, many farmers were not cultivating crops due to insecurity and exorbitant prices of fertilisers and other inputs in the market.
Corroborating an earlier opinion, Dikko Musa, another farmer, said that the improved security had encouraged them to return to their farmlands.
However, Sada Yakub said that bandits have prevented many farmers from cultivating their farms since the commencement of the cropping season.
“Before now, we had fewer problems due to the deployment of security personnel protecting our communities.
“Unfortunately, there are now security personnel in my village; the bandits are preventing us from accessing our farmlands.
“I appeal to the government to deploy more troops to enable us to cultivate our lands,” he said.
Pundits believed that the agriculture intervention being implemented by the Lawal administration would help address poverty, enhance food security, and herald economic diversification in the state.
Mr. Muhammad Awwal, an economist, said that such interventions are critical to modernising agriculture, enhancing farmer access to inputs and finances, and improving the social and economic wellbeing of the people.
Awwal advised the state government to prioritise training farmers on good agricultural practices (GAP) and mechanisation to encourage productivity and add value to the produce.
While calling for more security measures to restore peace to the state, Awwal advocated modern trading centres and access roads to boost trade in agricultural commodities in the state.
Zagazola Makama is a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad Region.
