‘Small-scale farmers still poor after 4yrs of ATA’

particularly in the rice value chain and the e-wallet scheme, Nigerian small holder farmers are yet to benefit significantly from the programme, Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, has said.“A question that must be asked however is,have these recent reforms actually led to higher incomes for the majority of Nigerian small scale farmers? […]

particularly in the rice value chain and the e-wallet scheme, Nigerian small holder farmers are yet to benefit significantly from the programme, Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, has said.
“A question that must be asked however is,have these recent reforms actually led to higher incomes for the majority of Nigerian small scale farmers? Maybe yes, in some value chains like rice. But the overall impact, after almost four years of implementation is still limited because the number of rural poor people in the country is still alarmingly high,” Senator Bwacha said.
Bwacha who stressed that the sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is still very significant even with the current GDP rebasing, however lamented that the sheer number of poor people in the country questions the viability of the sector as a sustainable source of livelihood for about 70% of farmers who depend on it.
He said the strategic role of public agricultural finance in increasing the competitiveness of small scale farmers across the various regions of the country cannot be debated because small holder farmers produce 90% of the nation’s food.
He said the high cost of land clearing especially in the southern part of the country, manual and expensive labour costs, high costs of agricultural inputs as well as lack of access to high yielding seeds, the small scale farmer gets a harvest that is not commensurate with his efforts.
“The one item that is still elusive and grossly inadequate in the agricultural agenda is the level of access to agricultural credit by the numerous small scale farmers in the country. Increased access to credit for small scale farmers would connect the dots in the agricultural value chain development from the perspective of production. Low interest micro credit to small scale farmers often provides the opportunity to turn potential to wealth,” he said.
Senator Bwacha stressed that even when there is access to credit in some instances, especially for larger farmers, the prevalent high interest commercial loans up to 25% per annum for commercial banks and more than 40% per annum for micro finance banks in the country does not allow for effective demand of credit available.
“Like former president Obasanjo noted at a recent African Development Bank panel report, no farmer can survive with the current interest rate unless he or she is growing cocaine,” he said.
For Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, a robust agricultural credit scheme targeted at smallholder farmers specifically aimed at group lending and enhanced take-up rates by rural small scale farmers is one sure way to do this if the over 70% of the poor in Nigeria will leave the poverty trap.