Prioritise inputs, farmers urge Wike as wet season activities gear up

As preparation for wet season farming gathers momentum, farmers in the Federal Capital Territory are appealing to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to prioritise inputs subsidy for them to avoid the challenges they face during the last planting season. Cross section of the farmers, who spoke with Abuja Metro, rated the minister low in the […]

As preparation for wet season farming gathers momentum, farmers in the Federal Capital Territory are appealing to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to prioritise inputs subsidy for them to avoid the challenges they face during the last planting season.

Cross section of the farmers, who spoke with Abuja Metro, rated the minister low in the area of agriculture last year despite his efforts to open up the rural areas.

Mr. Joseph Shekwoyi, a crop farmer in Bwari, said many of the farmers in the nation’s capital could not access farm inputs last season because of the high cost in the market.

This, he said, affected produce yields last year.

He said, ‘’Many of the farmers have no money to buy improved maize, cowpea, millet seeds. Most of us were forced to make use of the traditional seeds we are used to but you know those seeds don’t give good yields per hectare these days.’’

Mallam Abubakar Yunusa, a rice farmer, said apart from the improved rice seeds which most of the farmers could not afford, access to other inputs like fertiliser and agrochemicals was also a challenge last year.

He said, ‘’How much do you think you can get a 50kg of Faro 44 rice seeds now? This is in thousands of naira, many of the farmers could not afford that. This is where we expect the minister to come to our aid.’’

Abubakar said farmers did not get such assistance from the FCT Administration last year.

Mrs Modupe Ige, a vegetable farmer in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), urged the FCT minister to subsidise fertiliser and other inputs for farmers this farming season to enable them cultivate more arable lands.

She said, ‘’The minister is trying in the area of access roads in the rural communities. This will open the rural areas to the outside world and this will enable farmers to have access to the market. But if you are doing all these without paying attention to the real production, I don’t think we are doing anything yet.

‘’The minister should make it deliberate this farming season to subsidise these inputs for the farmers to enable us expand our farming scope and produce more.’’

Joshua Gana, a farmer in Gwagwalada, called on the FCT minister to consider buying tractors and harvesters for farmers’ groups or through the area councils, so that farmers at rural communities can have access to mechanisation for more yields.

He said,’’ Aside from the inputs, the use of manual labour in agriculture should be discouraged if we are to be serious in agriculture. Mechanisation is the way out. Apart from the fact that it will increase production and by extension farm yields, the use of farm implements would encourage more people, especially the youths to the farming, which most of them believe are for their fathers.

When Abuja Metro visited the FCT Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat, the Mandate Secretary at the Secretariat, Lawan Kolo Geidam, was said not to be on seat but a senior official of the secretariat said the administration on July 2, 2024, distributed seeds as well as other implement to farmers for last year farming season.

He said the inputs were distributed to Community Interest Groups (CIG’s) under the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) Project.

He said even though the farmers were complaining that the distribution came a bit late, the impact was felt in the volume of yields recorded by the benefitting farmers.

He admitted that there were many other farmers in the rural communities that might not be captured in the exercise but assured that there would be deliberate efforts to reach more farmers in this farming season.

On the preparation for this year’s rain-fed season, the official assured that the secretariat would soon roll out plans for the farmers this year.

He said, ‘’The inputs will get to the farmers early this year, that I can assure you. Also, more farmers will be captured, most especially at the rural communities.’’