The senator from Kaduna-South, Barr. Sunday Marshall Katung, voiced concern about the loss of N12 billion resulting from the fungal illness that devastated ginger growers. He also expressed concern that, should farmers not receive compensation, Nigeria may lose its ranking as the world’s second-largest producer of ginger.

The ginger blight epidemic has been confirmed in Kaduna, Nasarawa, the Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory by Aliyu Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security.

According to early estimates, farmers in southern Kaduna alone lost more than N12 billion, he revealed.

At a one-day workshop hosted by the Senate Committee on Capital Market in partnership with the Lagos Commodities and Future Exchange in Abuja, the senator representing the Southern Kaduna Senatorial Zone lamented that if they are not compensated for the losses they suffered during the deadly disease outbreak, they may not return to farming as the rainy season approaches.

In addition, Katung voiced concern that Nigeria would lose its standing as the world’s second-largest producer of ginger if the farmers were not given incentives in the form of compensation, saying “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,” Sen. Katung told the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security.”