Housewives advocate improved irrigation farming to reduce cost of food

Wed, Nov 11, 2020
By editor
3 MIN READ

Agriculture

Some housewives in Lagos State on Wednesday called for an improvement in irrigation farming in the agricultural sector toward reducing the price of food items in the country.

The housewives, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that the high cost of food items had inflicted untold hardship on most households.

Mrs Josephine Agbonkhese, a journalist and a mother of three, told NAN that the high cost of food should not be a subject of concern given the country’s good weather condition.

She said that countries with adverse weather conditions had since embraced mechanised farming to ensure that productivity remained consistent all year round.

“It’s so hard for the common man to feed these days, and it’s hard to comprehend that with the good weather this country is blessed with, we experience this nearly every year.

“What happens to irrigation farming, mechanized farming, so that we can improve on productivity all year round? Look at onions, it’s so expensive, we pay double for the price of one.

“Then the issue of herdsmen and insecurity are issues farmers have constantly complained about that we hear and read on the pages of papers,’’ she said.

In the same vein, Mrs Bolanle Tonaade, a fashion designer, told NAN that the hike in the prices of food items should not be attributed to the activities of traders.

“Market women will only fix their prices based on how much the farmers are selling, and farmers also will fix prices based on how much they spent to produce the products, so this increase is something that is beyond the regular market men and women.

“I have had to cut down on the numbers of onions that I use, I have made adjustments to guard against friction at home.

“Because one has to be very careful so we don’t put unnecessary pressure on ourselves; farmers and government should work hand-in-hand and see how we can preserve farm produce to last all year round,’’ she said.

Mrs Adebunmi Lawrence, a pensioner, lamented that it was difficult to plan because of the unpredictable nature of the market. “I don’t know what can be done, but things cannot continue like this,’’ she said.

Also, Mrs Esther Adebamowo, the Iyaloja of Olugbede Market, Egbeda in the Egbe-Idimu Local Government Development Council Area, told NAN that market women were not happy with the situation.

“If anyone thinks we are smiling to the banks they should have a rethink, as a businessman or woman getting returns is important.

“As we know, your cost price determines your selling price, so these are beyond us, what we should focus on is how to assist our farmers and make their jobs easy.

“We all know that quick returns make a business boom, if things are expensive consumers will not buy as much as they should, we can’t consume all by ourselves.

“Making the roads more accessible is a good way to start, ensuring security for farmers and giving us fertilizers to increase productivity,’’ she said. (NAN)

– Nov. 11, 2020 @ 14:35 GMT |

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