The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) Nigeria has empowered over 18,000 smallholder farmers across Nasarawa State with climate-smart practices, biofortified crops, and direct market linkages in 2025.
The Country Director of SAA-Nigeria, Dr. Godwin Atser, disclosed this during an official courtesy visit to the Nasarawa State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Lafia.
Represented by the Coordinator for Climate Resilience and Sustainable Agri-Systems, Mr. Nathaniel Otene, Dr. Atser highlighted key interventions implemented over the past year.
He revealed that SAA established 60 community demonstration plots across the state, exposing over 2,000 farmers to conservation practices, soil health management, and climate-resilient technologies.
”Our primary focus is to ensure that farming is done sustainably. Through the Japan-funded Policy and Human Resource Development Grant (PHRDG), we deployed a digital tool, e-Kikashi, to measure soil carbon sequestration and track greenhouse gas emissions, keeping our practices strictly within climate-resilient standards,” he said.
He reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to boosting food security and rural livelihoods, while urging the state government to provide counterpart funding to expand the scope of interventions.
Detailing the nutrition-sensitive agriculture pillar, Programme Officer Dr. Moshood Sulaiman emphasised SAA’s drive for chemical-free post-harvest storage.
He highlighted the use of Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags and converted plastic water tanks capable of preserving grains for up to three years.
Dr. Sulaiman added that SAA is actively promoting the cultivation and consumption of nutrient-dense, biofortified crops including Provitamin A maize, Zinc millet, and Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes targeting children under five and women of reproductive age.
Speaking on market-oriented agriculture, Programme Officer Mr. Jonathan Yassah reported that 18,900 farmers were trained to adopt a commercial “farming as a business” mindset.
He noted that 55 farmer organisations were successfully linked to input and output markets, adding that Nasarawa State stands out as the sole beneficiary of two Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)-supported aggregation centres sited in Assakio and Agwatashi communities in Lafia LGA.
In his remarks, SAA Communications Officer Mr. Moses Nongoatse reiterated the Japanese NGO’s core mission to eradicate hunger and poverty across Africa, noting that Nasarawa remains a strategic partner among the 18 Nigerian states where SAA operates.
”We are leading media partners across our intervention sites to document success stories directly from the farmers.
“Hearing directly from beneficiaries provides third-party validation, strengthens our partnership with the state government, and brings our collective achievements to the national spotlight,” he said.
Responding on behalf of the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Hon. Mohammed Iyimoga, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Hajiya Salamatu Sani, commended SAA for its substantial impact on smallholder farmers.
”From your briefing, the support you are giving our smallholder farmers is deeply appreciated. Your work aligns directly with our ongoing agricultural policies, including the newly launched Agriculture Intelligence Dashboard and new regulatory frameworks for fertiliser and seed quality control,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary called for immediate collaboration between SAA’s nutrition team and the ministry’s dedicated Nutrition Department.
She also requested that SAA share its annual operational plan to enable joint planning among the state government, development partners, and private stakeholders.
”We want to create a framework for collaboration where all partners operate under one umbrella.
“This will allow us to meet regularly, review progress, address challenges, and learn from your successes so our farmers can thrive,” she concluded.
The delegation also paid a courtesy visit to Rector the College of Agriculture, Science and Technology (CAST), Lafia, Dr. Musa Maikafi and also inspected key projects, including the Family Business Garden (FBG) school.
The visit concluded SAA Nigeria’s 2026 Media Field Days, an initiative designed to showcase field-level agricultural transformations through independent media documentation.
