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Farmers trained in Kano, Jigawa to boost cowpea yields

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Farmers in Kano and Jigawa trained on ISFM to restore soil fertility and boost cowpea yields through practical demonstrations and field sessions

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Farmers in Kano and Jigawa states have been trained to restore soil fertility and improve cowpea yields through a collaborative initiative by Soil Values and the Centre for Dryland Agriculture of Bayero University Kano.

Also read: Tomato Jos Receives $1.2 Million Support From USAID

The training, conducted as part of a Field Day on Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM), equipped smallholder farmers with practical techniques to rejuvenate degraded soils.

Participants visited four demonstration plots on the farm of Ahmad Isa Falali in Takai, Kano State, where they observed traditional practices, inorganic fertilisers, organic fertilisers, and the ISFM approach in action.

Falali described the experience as transformative. “Learning how to make compost, recycle residues and adjust nutrient levels has turned the ISFM plot into an ‘open-air classroom’ for me,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the CDA Director of Research, Dr Bassam Abdulrahman explained that the Field Day is part of the Soil Values project, funded by the Government of the Netherlands over ten years.

The programme aims to enhance land use in Kano, Jigawa, and Bauchi states through farmer training.

Women farmers also benefited, with Rayya Abdullahi noting increased confidence in soil management.

“I now have the confidence needed to properly manage the soil, and I intend to share this knowledge with other women in my group,” she said.

The programme is implemented by three primary partners—the International Fertiliser Development Centre, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, and Wageningen University & Research—supported by five scientific partners, including IITA, AGRA, ICRAF, ISRIC, and IWMI.

According to organisers, the initiative seeks to reduce the yield gap, improve soil fertility, and encourage farmers to restore land for long-term productivity and food security.

Operating in Sahelian regions affected by drought, desertification, and climate change, Soil Values has a budget of €100 million and targets restoration of two million hectares of degraded land across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and northern Nigeria.

Also read: Yusuf Tuggar, resilient diplomat amid foreign backed false persecution

In Nigeria alone, 800,000 hectares are expected to be rehabilitated, directly benefiting 600,000 smallholder farmers, with a focus on women and youth.

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Cement costs more in Nigeria than Kenya, Togo, FCCPC finds

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FCCPC

Cement price manipulation is under investigation by the FCCPC after a three-month study found Nigerian prices were high despite surplus capacity

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Heirs Life Names Pastor Jerry Eze Independent Non-Executive Director

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Heirs

Heirs Life appoints Jerry Eze as an Independent Non-Executive Director to strengthen financial inclusion, consumer trust and insurance adoption (more…)

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Shoreline Group secures US$200 million Afreximbank Facility

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Shoreline Group today announced that African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved a US$200 million facility in favour of Shoreline Power Company Limited and co-borrowers including Arkad S.p.A., Shoreline’s majority-owned engineering and construction platform.
Approved in June 2026, the facility was arranged and provided by Afreximbank as sole mandated lead arranger and lender. It provides bonding and working-capital capacity for Arkad’s delivery of the Hassi Bir Rekaiz project and supports Shoreline and its affiliates in developing further pipeline and infrastructure
projects in Nigeria and other permitted jurisdictions.
“This is a defining transaction for Shoreline and Arkad. We built Arkad as an African- sponsored engineering platform capable of competing at the highest level, and it is now delivering against a billion-dollar energy contract. Afreximbank’s US$200 million commitment gives the platform the financial strength to match its engineering capability and pursue further major infrastructure mandates. It demonstrates that African enterprises can assemble the capital, capability and partnerships required to compete for infrastructure at international scale.”
Hassi Bir Rekaiz Phase 2a Arkad holds 44 per cent of the approximately US$1 billion EPCCS-1 contract awarded by Groupement
Hassi Bir Rekaiz (GHBR) to an unincorporated consortium led by Egypt’s Petrojet, which holds 56 percent. EPCCS-1 covers engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up for the Phase 2a central processing facility and related infrastructure at the Hassi Bir Rekaiz field in Algeria’s Berkine
Basin.
GHBR is the joint operating entity for the licence, held by Sonatrach with 51 per cent and Thailand’s PTTEP with 49 per cent. The project includes a new crude oil processing facility with capacity of 31,500 barrels per day, facilities for associated gas and produced-water treatment, approximately 217 kilometres
of pipelines and the brownfield modifications required to integrate existing Phase 1 infrastructure.
The facilities are designed to support later expansion to 63,000 barrels per day under Phase 2b.
“This financing addresses the instruments that determine whether an EPC contractor can execute at scale: performance guarantees, advance payment guarantees and working capital through the project cycle. Hassi Bir Rekaiz is a demanding scope, combining a new central processing facility, associated treatment systems, pipelines and brownfield integration. With Petrojet, and with the support of Shoreline and Afreximbank, Arkad is focused on disciplined delivery against the project’s safety, quality and schedule requirements.”
The transaction was structured under Afreximbank’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction Initiative, which supports African engineering and construction firms with the financial instruments required to compete for and execute large infrastructure contracts. Afreximbank also supported the Arkad-Petrojet partnership through its EPC twinning work at the Intra-African Trade Fair held in Algiers
in 2025.
According to Afreximbank, the transaction is its first support for a Sub-Saharan African contractor undertaking a major infrastructure project in North Africa. For Shoreline, it demonstrates a practical model for combining African ownership and capital with established international engineering andindustrial capability.

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