Coffee, tea farmers decry lack of incentives, organised market

Coffee farmers in Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State have decried the absence of incentives and good market. The farmers said they were not given support by both Taraba and the federal government as is the case with farmers of other crops. Alhaji Buba Galadima Nguroje, a coffee and tea farmer, said Sardauna Local […]

Coffee farmers in Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State have decried the absence of incentives and good market.

The farmers said they were not given support by both Taraba and the federal government as is the case with farmers of other crops.

Alhaji Buba Galadima Nguroje, a coffee and tea farmer, said Sardauna Local Government Area had the potential to produce coffee to meet local demand and export to outside markets if farmers were given the needed incentives.

He said hundreds of coffee farmers in Mambilla plateau were never given any input, but they, however, sourced their capital to produce the commodity and find buyers for their produce.

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He said there was no factory to process coffee beans in the state, and farmers were always left at the mercy  of middlemen that buy the commodity at giveaway prices.

According to him, some group of people that buy coffee beans from farmers and processed and package coffee powder in sachets.

He said there was always a deficit of coffee product without buyers, which result in poor price of the product.

Buba Galadima said the state government and the federal government had no programme targeted at improving coffee production even though coffee farming has the potential to earn more foreign exchange for the country.

He said many farmers were opting out of coffees farming for tea and other crops because of ready market and incentives provided by government and other agencies.

Similarly, a tea farmer, Haruna Adamu, said it was very attractive because of the ready market and inventive the farmers were getting from some of the companies that bought raw tea from them.

He said the high land tea company at Kakara provided seedlings to the farmers and purchased raw tea from them.

Adamu, however, said the farmers did not determine their produce or fixed price, a situation that made them feel shotchanged.

He said the farmers wanted a situation where they should have a say in pricing their crops.