We are neglected by governments, stakeholders

Who are the registered members of this association?We have people from different backgrounds but largely from northern Nigeria. Some came from Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna and Niger Republic. Each and every state is represented in our association. We came together in other to achieve a common goal. I want to use this […]

Who are the registered members of this association?
We have people from different backgrounds but largely from northern Nigeria. Some came from Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna and Niger Republic. Each and every state is represented in our association. We came together in other to achieve a common goal. I want to use this medium to tell the world that our association is not limited to northerners only. We welcome everybody. Anybody can come and register. We don’t discriminate between females and males members. We are gender sensitive that is the reason we have female members among us.
How would you describe your achievements so far?
We thanked God for sparing our lives to live longer and witness today. We have achieved lots. You saw it by yourself. You met our members you talked to them. You saw what we have been planting. Our major achievement was to set up an association to unite our members. We have achieved that. We are more united than before. We have an avenue to discuss and exchange ideas. We speak with one voice. You can see how our farm looks like.
What are the challenges you faced this season?
Our challenges included insects and magus that have been destroying our farms. In Lagos if you are not careful insects would destroyed your farm. We are facing lack of chemicals to control insects. Sometime it is very expensive even if you go to market you won’t get it. You have to buy it from local agents. We thanked God that here in Lagos we didn’t have birds problem, it would have been worst. I could remember there was a time Fulani herders invaded our farms and destroyed everything. Although, we thanked the effort of our leaders and members of our association for their support and understanding during the crisis. This timely intervention yielded good result. We now have relative peace. We lived peacefully with our neighbours. That is another achievement. If there is no peace there is no farming, if there is no farming there would be food scarcity.
How did you relate to Lagos state farmers’ association?
We have cordial relationship with them. They used to call us for meeting but later they stopped. We didn’t know the reasons. But it seems they have crises among themselves. That is why we stepped aside to continue our activities without any problem. I assured you that we are ready to partner with any associations for the development of farming in Lagos and the country at large.
Did you get support from governments?
We got fertilizer from government only once. Before, Lagos state government used to give us fertilizer at a subsidised price but they stopped unceremoniously. As I am talking to you, they didn’t give us fertilizer. They didn’t help us in any way. We are on our own. We farm and cultivate on our own. Sometime, we use fertilizer, while some used manual fertilizer for their farm.
What do you want to achieve in the future?
We have many aims and objectives. We want to be getting chemicals for killing insects. The issue of fertilizer is very important; we called on government to give us fertilizer in subsidised price. We don’t have  farming equipments. I assured you that if we get this equipment on subsidised price we would boost farming in Lagos.