The Kebbi State government has commenced the free distribution of 110 truckloads and 100 metric tons of improved seeds to about 120,000 farmers across the state. According to Channels Television, the intervention is intended to boost agricultural productivity and strengthen climate resilience during the 2026 wet season, and it was formally flagged off by the state governor, Nasir Idris.
The exercise is being implemented under the Climate Change Adaptation Seed Support Programme and the CARRA Agricultural Development Agenda, known by the acronym CADAGE. According to the state, the programme is aimed at reducing production costs for farmers, improving food security and cushioning the effects of climate change on agriculture, which remains a mainstay of the local economy.
A key feature highlighted by the authorities is that the improved seeds are being handed directly to the farmers, rather than passing through middlemen. This approach, the government says, is meant to ensure that the support reaches the intended beneficiaries and that the impact of the intervention is felt at the level of the individual farmer during the planting season.
Alongside the seed distribution, the governor announced the constitution of an Annual Fertilizer Distribution Committee, tasked with monitoring the exercise and ensuring transparency in the process. He issued a firm warning that anyone found diverting or selling the free inputs would face the full weight of the law, in an apparent move to guard against the kind of leakages that often undermine such schemes.
Governor Idris framed the initiative as a deliberate intervention to cushion the effects of climate change while shoring up the productivity of the agricultural sector. He also commended President Bola Tinubu for supporting the initiative, describing the project as a major boost for farmers in the state as they prepare for the wet-season planting.
The intervention comes as many farming communities across Nigeria grapple with rising production costs, unpredictable rainfall and other pressures linked to a changing climate. By tying the seed and fertilizer support to a formal adaptation programme, the Kebbi authorities are presenting the exercise not merely as short-term relief, but as part of a broader effort to make local agriculture more resilient and to safeguard food security in the years ahead.