Small farmers urged to form groups for agro exports

Executive Secretary of the Agricultural Fresh Produce Growers and Exporters Association of Nigeria, Mr. Akin Sawyer noted that small scale doesn’t work for export because individual farmers may not be able to impact the market on their own.This, he said is why it is important for farmers to link up with others by forming groups […]

Executive Secretary of the Agricultural Fresh Produce Growers and Exporters Association of Nigeria, Mr. Akin Sawyer noted that small scale doesn’t work for export because individual farmers may not be able to impact the market on their own.
This, he said is why it is important for farmers to link up with others by forming groups of common produce, adding, “the reality on ground anywhere in the world is that small scale doesn’t work, what you need to do is that you migrate from being a small scale by developing cooperative to get small scale parties. Farmers should come together to become large and then they have a voice.
“So, really small scale doesn’t work because you are not going to get individual farmers being able to impact the market. That is why farmers must link up with others. Countries that are doing well in agro export business usually adopt a method of forming small conglomerates to make them stronger,” he said.
He called on Nigerian farmers to emulate their counterparts in Kenya, Denmark and Holland who, he said have become successful exporters of their farm produce after teaming up to form cooperative associations that enhance the production, processing and exporting of their products.