Orange farmers decry low prices, wastages

One of the largest quantities of fruits that come to the federal capital from other states are oranges. Although there are no records as to how many tonnes of the produce comes to Abuja altogether from the states, some markets record over 20 truckloads weekly.Mararaba orange market is one of the biggest orange markets in […]

One of the largest quantities of fruits that come to the federal capital from other states are oranges. Although there are no records as to how many tonnes of the produce comes to Abuja altogether from the states, some markets record over 20 truckloads weekly.
Mararaba orange market is one of the biggest orange markets in the federal capital. Located at Mararaba in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, a suburb of Abuja, it is well known as the largest market for the produce.
Our reporters who were at the market discovered that there were several tonnes of the produce waiting for buyers even as more were being offloaded from trucks.
 Some of the orange farmers who brought their products to the market express worry over what they described as low patronage as a result of low activities in the market since the yuletide holidays.
 James Owurum one of the farmers from Vandeikya, Benue State told our reporters that he spent over one week in the market since he brought the product, but has finally sold all he brought.
 “Before this period, we used to sell our product latest in two days. Sometimes we have buyers waiting for us especially if they know you for good oranges. But all of that has changed now,” Owurum said.
 He also expressed fear that the market may further shrink with the forthcoming general elections because, according to him, many buyers or traders want to wait till the elections are over.
 For Alex Sugh, a Gboko based farmer,  the shifting  of the elections will further shrink the market because many people are careful about putting their money in this kind of business because if anything happens, the product will rot away leaving you to bear the loss.
 Agnes Shatange who is also a farmer from Gboko in Benue State, lamented that the coming of hot period will further complicate their situation. “You see these oranges don’t like heat. The more you leave them unsold, they will just waste away. Look at the wastages there. Some bags were completely affected.”
 But some of the market officials who spoke with our reporters posited that the situation would have been better if there are juice companies who buy this produce from farmers.
 Some of these farmers rely on the dealers to sell the produce. At times the produce is sold on credit to avoid more wastages and losses being incurred by the farmers.
 “When you deduct the cost of transportation, wastages, local government tax, market union dues, what the farmer is left with is something insignificant.” Alex Sugh pointed out, adding “but we have to sell.”
 “My hope for the future is to see buyers waiting for the product or even calling us to supply to the home or companies. That is the only thing that will make us the poor farmers to be happy,” Agnes said.
 In an interview with our reporters, officials of the Orange Market Association said that the cost of disposing rotten oranges is one of the major challenges they are facing.
  Abubakar Ahmed who is the deputy chief judge of the Orange Market Association lamented that wastages were now taking more money from their coffers.
“It’s not just the money we are losing as a result of wastage of the oranges; we still pay so much money every week to dispose the wastes. We pay N8,000 or more depending on the quantity of the wastes in a week,” Ahmed told our reporters.
 He said market for the oranges, which are supplied mainly from Benue State, is poor especially during harmattan period as a lot easily dried up before they can be sold off.      
 “We speak with the farmers or traders on phone to let them know when to bring their oranges to the market and make good sales, but sometimes many of them will come at the same time leading to glut, spoilage and low prices. Presently a bag sells for between N5,000 and N5,500,” Ahmed said.
 He said that apart from wastage and payment for disposal of the spoilt ones, they face the challenge of space and other facilities in the market and appealed to the local government to develop the permanent site quickly so as to make life better for both traders and buyers.