‘We can enhance production if supported’

Can you give us a rundown of the agricultural loans accessed by Bakalori farmers within the past five years, especially those leveraged or facilitated by the federal government? We have never accessed any bank loan within the past 10 years. It was only this year that the Project Manager of Bakalori irrigation project linked us […]

Can you give us a rundown of the agricultural loans accessed by Bakalori farmers within the past five years, especially those leveraged or facilitated by the federal government?
We have never accessed any bank loan within the past 10 years. It was only this year that the Project Manager of Bakalori irrigation project linked us with the Bank of Agriculture in Talata Mafara which gave loan to 22 out of the over 35,000 farmers we have here. Each of the 22 farmers that benefited from the loan got N150,000.
Which type of support did you get in the last five years from the federal government targeted at enhancing rice production in Bakalori?
We have for the past two years been getting two but later three bags of fertilizer at subsidised rate and free seeds under the GES programme of the federal government. I am registered with GES and I have been getting three bags of fertilizer through GES. That is the assistance we have been getting as rice farmers.
Most farmers here are talking about the visit by the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, what exactly happened?
The minister came to Talata Mafara in the evening. You know this is the hometown of the state Governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari. When the minister arrived in the state, the governor was in his private residence here in Mafara and so he decided to pay the governor a courtesy call and we all went with him. At the governor’s residence, the minister wanted to address the farmers but we pleaded with him to spend the night in the state and visit the irrigation site the next day and he agreed.
The next morning, he went round the farmland. It was during that visit that he granted us special consideration for additional fertilizer. That has actually enhanced our production. More farmers from Bakalori were also registered under the GES though the names were displaced. The names of some farmers from Bakalori appeared in some parts of the state thereby making it difficult for them to redeem their allocations.
I do not want to go into any controversy about his visit. I only want to plead with him to consider sending our allocation of fertilizer and other inputs to Bakalori project office. It will be easy for us to claim our inputs from there. My name and those of my family members appeared elsewhere; hence we could not redeem our allocations.
Why are the farmers angry with him over wheat?
He told farmers to produce wheat, that he will come and buy up everything. We harvested the wheat in January and February of 2013. We kept the wheat till June but he did not come to buy. The wheat started spoiling and farmers needed money. We met him in Gombe during an agric event where we raised the issue. He showed his anger that the chairman of the Wheat Value Chain should have come and bought the wheat long ago. Not too long after, officials came from Abuja to buy up the remaining 400 bags. They bought the 400 bags promising to take the wheat to Kano, convert the grains to seeds and return them back to us to plant. We expected the seeds to be supplied to us between October and November but they did not bring them until December and they returned only 250 small bags instead of the 400 big bags they took.
Government has been saying that there are companies that import wheat as their local raw material. Why didn’t you contact them to come and buy from you?
At the several meetings we attended, government promised to facilitate loan for farmers’ associations to buy and own mills for the processing of crops like rice and wheat, we are yet to see that happen. There is no single flour mill, confectionary or any relevant company that came to say they want to buy wheat from us. Unfortunately, we do not have a single mill or tomato factory around here. That is why the standard of our agriculture is yet to attain business status.
What do you think should be done to enhance rice production here?
First, the minister of agriculture and his water resources counterpart should collaborate to support farming activities at the River Basins. Provide us with tractors, hybrid seeds, enough fertiliser at the right time; step up the fight against birds and other insects that are destroying our crops; mechanise our farming system by providing us with combined harvesters and planters; and provide us with rice mills. Most of these things can be provided to our associations on hire purchase. We shall operate as an industry and pay back over time.
The federal government announced that they will bring a rice mill to Bakalori. The state government has even provided a site for them but nothing has been heard of it again. We have 15 tractors in Bakalori that were provided by the Minister of Water Resources. Some of them have broken down. But about five are still working. We do not have a single combined harvester or planter here, and we need them. About two years ago, the minister of agriculture promised to provide us with a tractor hire service centre. We are still awaiting that.