The President of Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria (POFAN), Chief Daniel Okafor, has said that lingering farmers/herders crisis, climate change, banditry and kidnapping are affecting food production negatively in 2023.
Chief Okafor, therefore called on the government to step up their plans to protect farmers, provide incentives and train them on climate smart farming for a robust food production in 2024.
Presenting the evaluation of 2023 farmers scorecard and expectations for 2024, Chief Okafor said the government has not completely done well to assist farmers to have a free and normal farming experience at their farm locations in 2023.
He said more needs to be done to maintain food security in Nigeria during the 2024 farming season.
On banditry, he said “this rebellious act had prevented farmers from planting and harvesting their crops sustainably in the 2023. Government must wake up to their responsibilities to help the farmer enjoy the profession”.
While commenting on kidnapping and terrorism, the farmer said “this had more than anything else prevented the farmer from carrying out her occupation and affected severely the harvest on food products. The government has been found wanting in the area of stopping this menace on farmers”.
On climate change and flood, he said “flood and severe issues of climate change had effected drastically the farmers harvest and reduced food on the table of Nigerians. The government must compensate and proffer solutions to farmers on these adverse effects in the coming year”.
Furthermore, he said the government has failed to support farmers to attend international agricultural shows in order to learn more.
He said the national agricultural shows were not also left out as the farmers sponsored themselves without any state or federal support to all these events in 2023
“Government no longer show interest on capacity building and awareness creation for farmers on the new technologies to move food production forward in the 21st century.
“A great lot will be achieved if government carry farmers along on policy formulation, implementation and program interventions. For food security to subsist, farmers’ regular training and re-training must be the order of the day in the face of government programs and interventions.
“A thorough look at farmers’ activities reveal that little or nothing has been successful with linkages along embassy lines. Most farmers are not even aware that there is anything to acquire from linkages with embassies in Nigeria”, he said.
Okafor further stated that farmers have achieved little or nothing from donor agencies intervention in agriculture. He alleged that the government rather divert these donor interventions to themselves and the farmer is at loss with any gains from such interaction.
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