Benue female vegetable farmer survives on dry-season farming

Rebecca Benjamin is a dry season vegetable farmer. When it is rainy season, she returns to her regular farm in the village or takes to selling fish to augment the income of her semi-sized family resident in North Bank area of Makurdi, the capital of Benue State. During each dry season,  beginning from October every […]

Rebecca Benjamin is a dry season vegetable farmer. When it is rainy season, she returns to her regular farm in the village or takes to selling fish to augment the income of her semi-sized family resident in North Bank area of Makurdi, the capital of Benue State.
During each dry season,  beginning from October every year when the water of River Benue starts receding, Mrs. Benjamin hires a portion of the island under the Wurukum Bridge in Makurdi to plant spinach (green leaf) and sometimes maize with the hope of making profit at the harvest of the vegetable which usually reaches maturity in about three weeks.
She said: "I started dry season farming since ten years ago but during the rainy season I would return back to my regular farm land in Gbajimgba village where I plant maize, rice or trade in fish. I usually hire the land for the dry season farming at the cost of N30, 000 for between November and March every year from the natives of Angwan-Jukun in Wurukum."
The 31-year-old female farmer also expends between N4, 000, every week, to irrigate her farm.
She procures fertiliser for about N10, 000 to boost her vegetable production, while she incurs another separate cost for chemicals that will keep insects away from ravaging the plant.
She, however, worries little about all the expenses because at the end of each harvest, within the space of three weeks, she makes huge profit after vegetable sellers from across markets in Makurdi metropolis visit to buy from her.
Mrs. Benjamin would, however, wants the state government to lend her a helping hand by providing soft loan for her to expand her farm and make fertiliser available at affordable prices for small time farmers like her.
According to her, the government can also take a step further to provide large expanse of land to help farmers in her category grow vegetable, all-year-round, so that consumers can be assured of steady supply.
Though, not a member of the state chapter of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mrs.Benjamin said that the association needs to do more enlightenment so that people like her would be attracted to be part of it.
"If everybody involved would do their part to encourage dry season vegetable farming, there will be no lack at all as we (farmers) would boost our income from expanded farms while government will generate more revenue and consumers will get regular supply of their vegetable needs."