Economy
AS the festive period approaches, food consumers, farmers and other agricultural stakeholders have suggested different measures to curb the incessant increase in food prices in Nigeria.
The respondents expressed both their concerns and solutions in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abeokuta, Ibadan and Ilorin on Thursday.
In Abeokuta, a public affairs commentator, Mr Felix Okon, said sellers and consumers now struggle with their daily expenses as escalating food prices continue to reduce the purchasing power of Nigerians.
“The situation has continued to heighten the fears of Nigerians while their health continues to deteriorate because of inability to afford good and nutritious diet,” he said.
Mr Abiodun Ogunjimi, Secretary, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Ogun Chapter, blamed the situation on inadequate land for farming, climate change, insecurity and the disinterest of youths in agriculture.
“The land issue is creating problems because there is no more land available for agricultural production as most of the lands are now being acquired by estate agents.
“Climate change is also having a negative consequence on agriculture.
“For Instance, the rain has been so low between July and September, and most of the crops planted between April and June were destroyed, which led to low productivity.
“The youths are not so much attracted to agriculture because of the way it is being practised.
“Our ageing farmers are no longer strong enough to go to farm and the youths are not willing to take over and practice subsistence farming,” he said.
The AFAN secretary said it had been difficult to practice mechanised farming because the required modern equipment had to be imported.
“This has become so expensive because of the fall in the value of naira,” he said.
On the volume of harvest, Ogunjimi explained it was difficult to estimate because harvest was still ongoing.
He, however, noted it had been a lean harvest so far.
“It’s less than 50 per cent of what we harvested this time last year,” he said.
Proffering solutions, the AFAN secretary stressed the need for the government to tackle the issue of insecurity headlong to enable the return of farmers to their farms.
He also urged the government to fix dams and provide irrigation facilities to end the dependency on rain-fed agriculture, thus promoting all-year-round farming to care for Nigeria’s growing population.
“There is a need for effective collaboration and synergy between the government and the real and critical stakeholders, including farmers’ associations.
“We also need sincerity of purpose and transparency of government officials in the implementation of government policies and interventions,” he said.
Dr Lekan Ogunyemi of the Department of Agriculture, Bells University, Ota, said technology remained the most important catalyst to unleash Nigeria’s potential in agriculture.
“Modern agricultural technologies like precision farming, field sensors, and remote-sensing technologies offer immense potential to increase the average yield per hectare of land.
“Farmers need to monitor soil conditions, optimise irrigation and ensure that inputs are used efficiently,” Ogunyemi said.
The don emphasised the need to address food wastage, particularly in the post-harvest phase.
He, therefore, called for investment in storage facilities and upgrading the country’s food transport network to mitigate such losses.
“Government and private sector investments in the rehabilitation of redundant food transport infrastructure are also required to check such wastage,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ogun Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Bolu Owotomo, said the state government had continued to take pragmatic measures to develop agriculture.
He explained that farmers had been grouped into various clusters to benefit from economies of scale and various intervention programmes.
The commissioner mentioned the following intervention programmes: capacity building, land clearing, subsidised inputs and loan facilities, from which thousands of farmers had benefited.
He explained that the intervention measures aimed at reducing farmers’ production costs with the view to lowering prices of food items across the state.
On technology, he noted that the state, in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), launched the Ogun State Farmer Information Management System (OGFIMS) on April 20, 2023.
The commissioner described OGFIMS as a digital agriculture initiative to improve farmers’ production with digital aid.
According to him, digital agriculture can revolutionise agriculture, avert constraints associated with farming, and make the sector more sustainable.
Owotomo said the innovation would make farming more attractive to youths, being the largest users of mobile phones and software applications in Africa.
He added that it would also make food production more profitable and less burdensome while creating an effective linkage between markets and consumers.
He noted this would enhance the state’s effort to deepen financial inclusion and linkages among youths in agriculture.
“Farming should be regarded as a business,” he said.
Meanwhile, a 60-year-old farmer in Ibadan, Mr Ayokunun Bello, attributed rising food prices to the activities of overzealous businesspersons and farmers.
Bello said the situation may worsen if governments at all levels fail to bring the situation under control.
“It is not as if we are not farming, especially in Oyo State, but many farmers have bluntly refused to sell their harvested crops in our markets here.
“I know many farmers who export their maize and yams to Asia and Europe for sale, only to be resold to us after they had been converted to other products.
“Just about three weeks ago, while returning from my farm along Idi-Ayunre, in Oluyole Local Government Area, Ibadan, I saw no fewer than 100 trucks, fully loaded with freshly harvested maize being transported toward Ogun or Lagos States.
“I’m personally surprised that the efforts of some of us trying to ensure there is abundant food are yielding little or no result,” Bello said.
Incidentally, Gov. Seyi Makinde, while presenting the Oyo State budget recently, expressed regrets that some businessmen were sabotaging his efforts to ensure abundant food production in the state.
Makinde disclosed that he paid a surprise visit to some privately owned farms in some parts of the state and saw trucks moving huge loads of cassava to other states.
The governor said that if cassava had been made to remain in Oyo State markets, food products made from cassava would have reduced drastically.
Makinde, consequently, announced that his administration would impose taxes on trucks loading food crops out of the state.
However, a farmer, Mr Ibiyemi Orogbemi, blamed the government for most of the problems leading to the continuous increase in food prices.
Orogbemi lamented that the Oyo State Government had failed to curtail incessant attacks by herders, especially on government-owned farm settlements in the state.
“I am one of those who acquired farming space in the Ijaye farm settlement, and I have about 50 acres where I planted maize, tomatoes, yam, and plantain, but herders will not allow me to reap the fruit of my labour as and when due.
“We have jointly written letters to the Oyo State Government about our plights, but nothing has been done for the past four years.
“Just at harvesting our crops, the herders take their cows to eat them up. So, why wouldn’t there be food scarcity or a hike in prices,” Orogbemi queried.
Meanwhile, Mr Philips Adetunji, a Director in the Oyo State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the state had taken different steps to promote agriculture and ensure food security.
Adetunji said the government, at the beginning of the 2024 farming season, assisted farmers with loans at single-digit interest, including other support programmes to thousands of smallholders and farmers’ associations.
According to him, to encourage farmers to expand their farmlands, the government provided subsidies on tractorisation for land clearing.
He said billions of naira had been spent on fertilisers and seedlings while the government had rendered support on the transportation of farm produce from farm fields to urban areas.
He added that poultry and livestock farmers were also supported with feeds and other relevant needs, thus yielding positive results.
He said the government had identified the activities of middlemen, who buy food items produced in the state in bulk, transporting them in trailers out of the state.
To curb this act, he said the state government had ordered all vehicles carrying foodstuffs out of the state to be levied.
“This decision will discourage mass movement of farm produce in the state to neighbouring states,” he said.
He maintained that such and other measures would soon bring down prices of foodstuffs in the state.
Speaking on the forthcoming dry season farming, the director said farmers interested in dry season farming had been financially supported aside from the tractorisation subsidy.
An Ibadan-based economist, Mr Samson Olalere, emphasised intensifying production as the best way out of the current food crisis, rather than importation, given the scarcity of foreign currency.
According to him, this can be enhanced by providing an enabling environment for farmers to return to.
He also called for youth engagement in agricultural production through mechanised farming and production of facilities for all year-round production.
“This can be done through irrigation and the supply of modern farm implements with other enabling environments like good roads and other infrastructure,” he said.
Also, a farmer and financial expert, Mr Tunji Adepeju, urged every Nigerian to grow their food by practising backyard farming.
He said if everyone produced what to eat, prices of food items would crash as middlemen would not have the monopoly of power to dictate prices of foodstuffs.
“The way to go is backyard farming and there will be respite for Nigerians. We all can force prices of food items down drastically if we get our hands dirty on the farm,” Adepeju said.
Dr Idris Badiru, Senior Lecturer, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Ibadan, said the agricultural sector was not insulated from happenings in the macroeconomy.
Badiru said the removal of energy subsidy with the floating of the naira in the exchange market contributed to the hike in the cost of production.
He remarked that agricultural inputs had to be transported, while some of the produce needed to be preserved or processed before arriving at the market.
He explained that all the processes were affected by the two earlier-mentioned policies.
“Even labour costs have gone up because of the same reasons.
“The security situation in the rural areas also contributes to the problem as some food-producing belts are also affected.
“We must not also forget the global dimension of the situation as food prices have generally gone up worldwide,” he said.
According to Badiru, commercialising agriculture requires concerted efforts from all stakeholders.
He, therefore, called on the Federal Government (FG) to speed up its game in the area of research to promote improved seeds and technology that could be easily adopted in the country.
He also urged the state governments to be proactive by funding agricultural extension, promoting the adoption of improved technologies and providing credit facilities for the farmers.
“Other support infrastructure like roads and electricity also need to be strengthened.
“There is the need to speed up action on activating Agropark Rangers to secure our forests and rural areas from bandits,” Badiru said.
However, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Whole Planet Initiative, said until the implementation of decisive solutions, the cost of food items in Nigeria would continue to rise.
Its National Coordinator, Mrs Margaret Adebukola, stated that insecurity, fuel subsidy removal, poor infrastructure and other challenges had long cast a dark shadow over Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
She said these had wreaked havoc on food production and its prices in the country.
Adebukola added that soaring transportation costs due to the removal of fuel subsidies and poor road network had compounded the challenges of bringing farm produce to markets.
“Agricultural processes, cost and maintenance of farm machinery in addition to transportation of goods from farms to urban centres have become much more expensive.
“Governments at all levels need to improve agricultural infrastructure, cutting across supply chains, storage facilities and machinery.
“Poor roads and old transportation networks also create bottlenecks in moving produce across distribution lines, leading to significant post-harvest losses.
“Poor road conditions lead to longer travel times and higher fuel consumption.
“This situation, particularly, affects perishable goods like fruits and vegetables, which require quick and efficient transportation to prevent spoilage and ensure they reach consumers in good condition,” she said.
Adebukola, however, urged Nigerians to engage in subsistence farming as household farming has been predicted to be a veritable way to counter Nigeria’s food inflation challenge.
She added that subsistence farming could potentially lower household expenses and increase food sufficiency for the citizens.
She advised the government to leverage technology to enhance and aggregate Nigeria’s agricultural supply chain to curb the activities of middlemen.
“Adopting technology such as mobile applications to link farmers with wholesalers, retailers or direct consumers will efficiently minimise post-harvest losses and reduce transportation costs.
“A digital approach could also be leveraged to enhance access to crucial resources, such as equipment leasing, thus ensuring that rural farmers can optimise productivity and profitability.
“Managing the supply chain through technology will ensure a more transparent, efficient, and resilient agricultural network, improving overall food security and economic returns for farmers,” she said.
In Ilorin, the Small-scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) cited bad roads and insecurity as major causes responsible for high prices of food.
The Kwara Coordinator of SWOFON, Mrs Elizabeth Ndako, said most of the roads leading to farmlands in the state were bad, thereby preventing smooth movements of farm produce to the consumers.
Calling for a good road network, she said those who risk their vehicles on the bad roads charge exorbitant amounts, which in turn, affect the prices of goods.
She also called for erosion control in flood-prone areas like Patigi Local Government Area and irrigation for all-year-round farming.
She urged the government to consider more women farmers in formulating agricultural policies.
SWOFON Secretary, Alhaja Titi Adesalam, identified insecurity as another factor preventing farmers from reaching their farmlands, thus making food more expensive.
She, therefore, called on the government to intensify efforts at attaining food sufficiency by ending insecurity. (NAN)
21st November, 2024.
C.E
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