Not a good time for farmers

At a time when Nigeria desperately needs to produce more food and tame inflation, farmers are facing one of the most difficult planting seasons in recent memory. The combination of worsening insecurity, soaring production costs, delayed government interventions and shrinking farmlands has created a perfect storm that threatens not only farmers’ livelihoods but also the […]

At a time when Nigeria desperately needs to produce more food and tame inflation, farmers are facing one of the most difficult planting seasons in recent memory. The combination of worsening insecurity, soaring production costs, delayed government interventions and shrinking farmlands has created a perfect storm that threatens not only farmers’ livelihoods but also the country’s food security.

Across many farming communities in northern Nigeria, hope is giving way to despair. Farmers who should be busy expanding cultivation are instead reducing the size of their farms, abandoning fertile lands or returning to age-old farming methods because modern agriculture has become prohibitively expensive.

The stories emerging from villages across the North paint a disturbing picture. Farmers who relied on tractors for land preparation can no longer afford them because diesel prices have more than doubled. A farmer who paid about N50,000 to plough a piece of land last year now has to pay almost twice that amount. Some who spent over N1 million on tractor services in previous seasons have reluctantly turned to oxen to prepare their fields this year. While there is nothing inherently wrong with traditional farming, it is difficult to increase productivity and feed a rapidly growing population by relying on methods that have long been overtaken by mechanised agriculture.

This unfortunate reversal comes despite repeated assurances by government that mechanisation would transform Nigeria’s agriculture. Nearly a year after the federal government launched its Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme and unveiled 2,000 tractors and other equipment acquired with support from the Bank of Industry, many of the machines are yet to reach the farmers they were meant to serve. This delay defeats the very purpose of the intervention.

Government must understand that procuring agricultural equipment is only half the task. The other half—and perhaps the more important one—is ensuring that the equipment reaches genuine farmers at the right time. A tractor delivered after the planting season has little value. Agriculture follows a calendar that cannot wait for bureaucratic processes.

The challenge goes beyond mechanisation. Fertiliser prices remain painfully high, with 50kg bags of NPK and Urea now selling between about N52,000 and N65,000 in many markets. Improved seeds, herbicides, insecticides and other farm inputs have become increasingly expensive. Labour costs have also risen sharply. Consequently, many smallholder farmers are unable to apply the recommended quantities of fertiliser or cultivate the acreage they had planned, a situation that will almost certainly reduce yields and worsen food inflation.

The security situation is even more alarming. In many parts of Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto, Benue, Plateau, Yobe, Borno and other northern states, farmers are not merely battling high production costs; they are battling for survival. Armed bandits continue to attack farming communities, impose illegal taxes on farmers, kidnap villagers and, in many instances, kill those who venture into their farms. Only recently, at least 17 farmers were murdered while working on their farms in Zamfara. Barely weeks later, another attack claimed at least 15 lives in the same state. Similar incidents have occurred repeatedly in Sokoto, Nigeria and indeed across the region, forcing thousands of farmers to abandon their lands.

No serious country can achieve food security while its farmers cultivate under the shadow of the gun. Security of farmlands should, therefore, rank among Nigeria’s highest national priorities. It is not enough to deploy security personnel only after attacks have occurred. Security agencies must dominate vulnerable farming corridors during planting and harvesting seasons, dismantle criminal enclaves in forests and ensure that rural communities regain confidence to return to their farms.

Equally important is the need for coherent agricultural policies. Government cannot continue to encourage local production on one hand while making imports more attractive on the other. Every time Nigeria imports food that can be produced locally without adequately supporting domestic farmers, it effectively subsidises foreign farmers at the expense of Nigerian producers. That approach weakens local agriculture, drains scarce foreign exchange and undermines national food security.

The truth is that Nigerians are among the most hardworking people anywhere in the world. Farmers, in particular, ask for very little. They do not seek handouts. They ask for security to access their farms, affordable inputs, timely access to tractors and simple policies that reward hard work. Give them these basic conditions and they will produce enough to feed the nation and create employment for millions.

Some state governments have demonstrated that timely intervention is possible by subsidising fertiliser and ensuring distribution before the peak planting season. Such examples should be emulated across the federation. What farmers require are practical interventions that arrive when they are most needed—not ceremonial launches and impressive speeches after opportunities have been lost.

Nigeria cannot continue to treat agriculture as an annual slogan. Food security is national security. If today’s farmers are discouraged by insecurity, high costs and delayed support, tomorrow’s harvest will inevitably be smaller, food prices will climb higher and millions more Nigerians will struggle to feed their families.

The federal and state governments must therefore act with urgency. Farm inputs should be made affordable and available, mechanisation programmes should move from warehouses to farmlands, rural roads should be improved and, above all, farming communities must be secured. Every day of delay carries enormous economic and social consequences.

Indeed, this is not a good time for farmers. But with decisive leadership, timely intervention and sustained commitment, it can become a better time—not only for those who till the land but also for every Nigerian who depends on their labour for daily bread.