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Friday 29th March 2024,
Hope for Nigeria

‘Hurdles govt must tackle in agriculture’

'Hurdles govt must tackle in agriculture'

‘Hurdles govt must tackle in agriculture’ – Even though there is no skepticism that a powerful foundation was put in agriculture by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, motivated by Dr Akinwumi Adesina, agriculture isn’t yet a sustainable venture in Nigeria because of factors stakeholders perspective could be managed with strong political determination.

Putting an finish to fraudulent regimes of fertilizer subsidy introduction of Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) cassava flour-primarily based bread and other confectionaries cocoa, rice and wheat production initiatives dry season farming 1-quit input outlets mechanisation programmes, farmer registration/database and creation of a commodity exchange are some of the efforts usually touted as outstanding merits of the agricultural reform.

Nevertheless, President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), an umbrella physique for all agricultural and allied organization associations, Mr Kabir Ibrahim, mentioned in the previous years of the Development Enhancement Scheme of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the Federal Government, only subsistence farmers had been empowered with little or no poverty-reduction effect on the majority of the farmers and their households.

He mentioned if the government preferred a fantastic impact, commercial farmers should be incorporated and subsistence farmers must be empowered to grow to be commercial.

Ibrahim also faulted the value chain strategy, saying it should be created along regional crops. He argued that only cassava value chained was harped upon, and cassava, according to him, is not a national or unifying crop, saying only the South had comparative benefit in the cultivation of cassava and its allied merchandise. He stated he would want the government to recognize crops peculiar to each geopolitical zone and make the worth chain improvement even.

On agricultural mechanization, AFAN president said mechaninisation is nevertheless at the lowest ebb. He said decrease horsepower tractors and other agro-gear becoming purchased could hardly take care of farmers’ specifications, calling on the government to obtain industrial farming gear, provide agrochemicals and other inputs to farmers in industrial quantities.

Ibrahim added that rates of agricultural generate need to be stabilised and minimum prices assured so that farmers could strategy ahead and make calculated investment decisions, saying price fluctuations had discouraged and would continue to discourage farmers, year in year out, having damaging effects on meals production, poverty eradication efforts, wealth creation and safety.

Oyo State chairman of AFAN, Mr Ayinla Olumide, mentioned in spite of the noise about ATA, credit facilities to genuine farmers have not been forthcoming. He stated the government ought to stop paying lip service to provision of facilities to farmers.

He also said far more inputs, extension of farm mechanisation scheme to all states of the federation, access to farmland and grading of farmland roads ought to be incorporated into ATA in 2015 to make agribusinesses sustainable and appealing.

The national Secretary of the Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN), Mr Rotimi Oloye, stated on behalf of the association that “imported fish, high cost of production, pricey fish feed additives and poor economic schemes are key troubles we want the government to tackle this year.”

He lamented that high rate of fish importation to the country had made it challenging for catfish farmers to penetrate the regional marketplace, saying this was also aggravated by increasing costs of fish feed ingredients due to crises in the Northern part of the country from where grains are sourced.

Oloye also faulted the industrial banks, which, he said, had failed to assist farmers. He said the interest rate is not only exorbitant but also unprofitable, saying the government need to discover a far better way of reaching the true farmers financially.

Mrs Bola Adeyemo, Coordinator of the Senator Adeyemo Women Empowerment Scheme, had earlier lamented the sorry state of agriculture financing in the country.

“Increasing funding to agriculture will go a lengthy way. This will imply a lot more tractors and other farm inputs are made available. While I was given information from a massive cassava processor in Nigeria, he stated farmers could in no way get the loan facilities from banks. He got N8 million loan due to the fact they knew he is in processing and he has other means to spend the money…

“So, this is one of the difficulties. I after approached a commercial bank and the manager told me that I ought to not waste my time, that the portion released to the bank by the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) had been given to a specific farm that was into complete agriculture and production, but they knew he had other means to spend the money,” Adeyemo mentioned.

Adeyemo also named for more support for agro-processors, saying processing would go a lengthy way in making worth addition and additional earnings, as properly as more jobs for the unemployed.

She stated rural roads major to most of the farm settlements and farmland must be offered adequate interest. He mentioned, for instance, it charges N5,000 to transport a tonne of cassava tubers to the buyer, who buys the items at N10,000, lowering the economic yields by a half.

Adeniyi Adenuga, a youth fish farmer and owner of Tepebo Farm in Ijebu Ode, stated a lot more avenues should be produced in 2015 for farmers to sell their generate, saying production without having a prepared marketplace would usually discourage farmers, creating agribusiness unsustainable.

The Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) beneficiary mentioned agricultural financing need to be holistically looked into and fashioned in such a way that would make funding for farmers much more friendly, accessible and less costly.

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