Asaba, Aug. 1, 2023: Delta Chairman, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Mr Sylvanus Ejezie has urged for speedy implementations of government pledges to farmers to ensure improved food production in the country.
The farmer, who spoke on Tuesday, in Asaba, while reacting to Mr President’s broadcast, said farmers were full of expectations from the promises.
He however, lamented the hardship faced by farmers and the general public on account of the petrol subsidy removal, adding that government must act fast on her promises to ensure food production in line with her food security plans.
He noted that the promise to distribute 200,000 metric tonnes of grains could not cushion the impact of food shortages in the country unless drastic measure were taken to ensure that the agriculture sector work effectively.
Ejezie also said that the planned distribution of 225,000 metric tonnes of fertilisers and seedlings would not reach the farmers unless farmers association were carried along during the project implementations stages.
According to the RIFAN chairman, farmers particularly, the small holder famers are always ready to produce.
“Monday, we listened to Mr President’s broadcast, we hope it is not the usual political promises because we are tired of those promises, we need implementation.
“As we speak, we are in a meeting trying to keep members abreast with the policies and to see how we can take advantage of the situation to improve our production and welfare based on Mr Presidents speech.
“So, anything the government has promised, they should do it fast for the farmers to utilise and produce food for the nation.
“The promises must not end on papers; we are tired of radio and television promises.”
On the 200,000 metric tonnes of grains to be distributed to cushion the effect of inflation and prices, “we are not sure where these grains are coming from; is it imported?
“This is one of the problems we are facing here as farmers; there are no silos here in the south for government to mop up the excesses from us and store for future.
” So, we produce at a higher cost here, so, if government decided to release cheaper grains to crash the prices, we are losing because we will be forced to sell at a price lower than our production cost price,” Ejezie said.
He, however, tasked the government to immediately fine tune its polices on agriculture and make the N50 billion one digit loans available to rice farmers to fast track food production in the county.
According to him, farmers are also challenged by other inputs such as machinery; planters, harvesters, irrigation facility particularly now that petrol driven machine and boreholes have become expensive due to the subsidy removal.
He advised that government should identify real farmers and allocate special petrol stations to them for the purpose of realising the food security programme of the government.
“If we as farmers should continue to run our farms at the same cost rate to produce, our products will come out at higher cost.
” Besides, government can as well procure and distribute solar powered irrigation facilities to farmers to ensure all season farming.
“Again, if government can arrest the current farmers headers clashes, farmers in the country will not be afraid to go to their farms and produce,” Ejezie said.
