Some stakeholders in Kogi, Niger and Nasarawa states have attributed the high cost of foodstuffs contrary to expectations during the harvest season, to insecurity and the hike in transportation fares.
Some of the stakeholder – farmers, traders and agriculture experts, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday said that attacks by bandits on farmers and farmlands to steal produce had taken a toll on food production.
Mr Segun Arogbonlo, a farmer from Orokere-Amuro, Mopamuro Local Government Area of Kogi said that that insecurity had made a lot of farmers in the area to abandon their farms for fear of attacks.
He also blamed the high const of foodstuffs on the activities of traders who hoard the farm produce to resell at a later date for high profit, as well as the high cost of transportation occasioned by the removal of subsidy on petrol.
According to him, the massive demand by traders who hoard and sell directly to government for palliatives did not help the situation.
Arogbonlo lamented that even few of the farmers that ventured into farming, had to harvest their crops prematurely for fear of losing the produce to bandits.
“Just yesterday, my two hectares farm Oyi River Road, with over 5,000 heaps of cassava, maize, beans and okro was destroyed by suspected herders.
“This is the situation most farmers in the area have been facing. So, how do you expect us to get reasonable harvest in this season.
“They move with dangerous weapons that you dare not accuse them, and they raid our farmlands, mostly at night after we might have gone back home.
“I also reported the matter to personnel of the Kogi State Vigilante Services who are now on the trail of the suspects.
“So, you can now see why prices of food will continue to rise even in the midst of harvest because we have little or no crops to harvest due to the challenges insecurity.
He, therefore called for a holistic intervention by the government to address the incessant attacks on farmlands and farmers.
Also, Mr Temitope Aloko, a farmer and staff member of the Federal University Lokoja (FUL), corroborated Arogbonlo’s position on insecurity being the bane of food production.
“They will come at night after we have left our farms and harvest our farm produce.
“On Friday, my beans farm that should be due for harvest in one week time, was harvested by unknown people.
“This is so bad and we are helpless,” Aloko said.
Mr Shola Adebisi, a community leader and farmer from Isanlu, Yagba East, LGA, said aside the insecurity, traders usually patronise Isanlu Market with articulated vehicles to load farm produce with high price.
“These traders will come to our markets with trailers to load our beans, corn, maize and yams, and they are always ready to pay higher price for them.
“They claimed that governments and politicians are buying it from them at a higher price to be used as palliatives, while others said they exported them.
“So, at the end of the day, we that are producing the crops in the village would be left with little or no food to buy or eat, and we end up buying them at higher prices.
“We need government intervention to ensure effective price control that will protect the interest of the common people and check the traders who buy in bulk and hoard for profit, produce meant for our local consumption,” Adebisi said
He, however, said that leaders of the community were already working on measures to stop the local farmers from selling their crops to traders, so that the local people could buy food at a cheaper rate.
Mr Kareem Adamu, a farmer at Kabba Junction, attributed the skyrocketing cost of food items to high cost of transportation, climate change and the recently implemented minimum wage.
The farmer said immediately the new wage was paid, cost of transportation increased and every other sector followed suit, with food items not left out.
He also noted that yield this cropping season was low due to the effect of climate change.
“The rains started early this year and thereafter ceased at some point for a very long time, which was why farmers could not get tangible yield out of their farms.
“The little harvests we got had to be sold profitably, we don’t have choice,” he said.
Dr Emmanuel Alabi, an agriculturist, emphasised the need for government’s commitment towards commercialisation of agriculture in Nigeria in order to address the challenges facing the sector.
He identified insecurity, poor technology application and limited financing as some of the challenges in the agriculture sector and food security in Nigeria.
According to him, commercialising agriculture requires a multifaceted approach by developing a reliable agricultural framework as a model crucial to achieving food sufficiency.
Alabi, a lecturer at the Department of Agriculture, Prince Abubakar Audu University (PAAU), Anyigba, Kogi, urged stakeholders investment in modern farming techniques and technology to increase productivity.
He also advocated the provision of access to credit facilities and funding for farmers.
Alabi further recommended improvement of storage and transportation infrastructure to reduce wastage through high post-harvest losses.
“There is a need for government to make concerted efforts to encourage farmers to grow a variety of crops to reduce dependence on a single crop.
“The government should also promote processing and value addition to increase the economic benefits of agricultural products, and creating market linkages and access to domestic and international markets.
“Although the Federal Government has implemented several initiatives to address these challenges, however, more needs to be done to fully commercialise the sector.
“It is also worth noting that Nigeria has significant agricultural potential, with over 70.8 million hectares of arable land and a large youth population that can be engaged in farming.
“By addressing these challenges and leveraging these opportunities, Nigeria can unlock its agricultural potential, achieve food security and economic growth, amidst the present hardships in the country,” Alabi said.
In her contribution, Mrs Kemi Olaleye, a foodstuff seller at Zango Area in Lokoja, said the increasing price of foodstuff was becoming unbearable as she could no longer restock her shop.
She said patronage from her customers had reduced due to the economic challenges affecting everybody.
“I know the government has been intervening but they need to do more to tackle this daily price increase,” she said.
Mr Kelechi Okonkwo, a food vendor lamented that the price of 25 litres vegetable oil had increased from N60, 000 to N105,000 within a month.
Okonkwo said that the manufacturing companies attributed the increase in price to high cost of production.
He noted that the price of 25 litres of palm oil had increased from N30,000 to N70,000, a situation he blamed on fuel hike.
“We expect palm oil to rise further during the festive period as production usually slows down.
“Cost of eggs have also increased, a crate, which was previously sold for N4,500 now sells for N6,000.
The trader, however, appealed to both state and the Federal Government to help find lasting solution to the incessant hike in prices of food items in the country.
In Niger, the increasing price situation is not different in spite of the recent harvest of crops like maize, yam, rice, sorghum and millet.
Dr Matthew Ahmed, Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry for Agriculture, attributes the trend to droughts, insecurity, high transportation costs, and expensive inputs.
He said Gov. Umaru Bago of Niger recently inaugurated the harvest season, but the effects of the dry spell had already taken a toll on crops yield.
“For instance, maize and rice yields have been reduced from seven tons per hectare to 4.5 metric tons per hectare.
“This reduction in supply, coupled with high demand, has led to increased prices,” he said.
Ahmed said farmers in Niger faced numerous challenges, including insecurity in areas like Shiroro, Munya, and Rafi, which prevented them from accessing their farms.
He added that the high cost of transportation due to increased fuel prices also affected production costs.
He further said that the devaluation of the Naira had made imported inputs such fertilisers and herbicides more expensive.
The permanent secretary said the Niger State Government was taking steps to address these challenges.
He said farmers were being encouraged to participate in dry-season farming, and town hall meetings had been organised to promote Niger Foods System and Logistics Company Limited’s initiatives.
He said the state government also planned to rehabilitate irrigation facilities and mobilise farmers to utilise them.
Ahmed advocated Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements, mechanisation, and training of farmers to utilise their land effectively as part of ways to commercialise agriculture in Nigeria.
He said Niger Government had already acquired 1,500 tractors, 10,000 power tillers, and combine harvesters to reduce post-harvest losses.
He added that the IFAD Value Chain Development Programme was supporting farmers with solar irrigation, water pumps and training them to manage the pumps for higher yields.
Ahmed said by addressing the challenges facing farmers and promoting agricultural development, Niger State aimed to reduce food shortages and prices.
According to him, Niger Government’s efforts to promote agriculture are expected to have a positive impact on the economy.
In Nasarawa State, agriculture stakeholders also hold the same views.
They attributed the high cost of farm produce in the state to the increased transportation costs, farm inputs and equipment.
Some of the stakeholders who spoke separately to NAN said despite the harvest season, the price of foodstuff had not reduced, due to the running cost of production and transportation of the farm produce.
Mr Joshua Jonathan, National President, Association of Small Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN), said that the high cost of farm inputs and equipment was responsible for the steady rise in the prices.
Jonathan noted said the insecurity being experienced in parts of the country had greatly contributed to the high cost of foodstuffs.
He said the situation had resulted in the influx of farm produce buyers into Nasarawa State from the regions ravaged by insecurity.
“There are many buyers now in the market, which resulted in competition in the market.
“This happens because there are many parts of the country that people are not producing because of insecurity.
“If you don’t buy other people are willing to buy; many buyers are following farmers to their farms to buy their farm produce.
“That is why the price of farm produce increasing this harvest season,” he said.
He also maintained that the cost of labour and production was high due to lack of access to labour-saving equipment.
“High cost of farm inputs and implement also contributed, you cannot produce at a high cost and sell it lower than your cost of production,” he said.
Abdullahi Sani, a farmer said that the government had not provided labour-saving equipment that could help farmers to produce at a low cost.
“Something that you are supposed to do for one day, you take one week to do it.
“Even the feeding of labourers is enough to say you have reduced what you are supposed to harvest.
“Direct labour cannot be compared to mechanisation.
“The machine can do what 10 people can do in one hour, thereby, reducing the cost of production,” he said.
Sani decried the high cost of transporting farm produce from farms to other locations as well as the cost of loading and offloading.
“For instance, picking up one bag of farm produce from the farm to the market in a short distance is about N2,000.
“Long-distance is N7,000 per bag. So, if you bring it, you must add the cost of production, transportation, loading and offloading,” he said.
On the Commercialisation of agriculture, Mr John Bako, another farmer, said the government should intensify efforts to subsidise farm machinery, to enable the country to go into full-scale commercialisation.
“Commercialisation of agriculture is already on, but to have effective commercialisation, there must be an enabling environment by government,” he said.
He pointed out that there must be government subsidy to support the farmers.
“For commercialisation to be effective, government should provide farm equipment to farmers on a rent basis until the cost is defrayed, then they become owners,” he said.(NAN)
