Idara Jerome, Uyo

Young farmers and members of the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) have called on the Akwa Ibom State Government to subsidise organic farm inputs and equipment, drawing attention to rising production costs, flooding, poor rural roads and other challenges affecting agricultural productivity.

The farmers made the call on Thursday, during an advocacy visit to the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Agriculture in Uyo. The group had sought an engagement with the Commissioner for Agriculture, but the engagement did not hold because the commissioner was unavailable.

Speaking with journalists, the Team Lead of Steps to Sustainable Transformation and Empowerment Foundation and Contact Person for the Agroecology and Food Transformation Systems Alliance (AFTA), Enomfon-Abasi Harry, said the alliance was created to strengthen the voice of local farmers and foster direct engagement with government.

“We are here this morning to seek an engagement with the Commissioner for Agriculture. We are here with women from SWOFON, youth groups and other young farmers as well to demand subsidy on organic farm materials.

Why this alliance started was because we saw the need of farmers, local farmers to be exact and we decided that we should take this to the ministry because they themselves, they might not want to speak up, they might not want to say anything so that it won’t be that they have talked or whatsoever and nothing has happened,” he said

According to Harry, farmers have continued to face severe challenges, including flooding caused by recent rain, high cost of organic farm inputs and the high cost of hiring farm equipment which smallholder farmers cannot afford. He noted that renting a tractor for a day may cost between N130,000 and N150,000.

“They are really going through a lot of things in their farms because of the recent rain, floods and everything, the floods have destroyed their farms and because of the high increase in organic materials, they have not been able to get any organic things they want to use for their farms and also getting equipment as well for their farms is a bit expensive as well.

If a farmer wants to get, let me say, a tractor to be used on the farm, to rent a tractor for a day is about a 130,000, 150,000 Naira, a local farmer will not have that much amount of money to be able to get a tractor to be used on the farm.” he added.

Harry appealed to the state government to subsidise organic farm materials and equipment to make them more affordable and accessible to local farmers. He expressed disappointment that the planned engagement with the commissioner did not hold, despite a letter submitted ahead of the visit, adding that the alliance would seek another appointment to enable farmers present their concerns directly to the ministry.

Also speaking, SWOFON member Joy Kelly highlighted several challenges confronting small-scale women farmers across the state, including poor access roads to farming communities, post-harvest losses, lack of produce off-takers, crop theft, insecurity, flooding and the high cost of farm inputs.

“Some of those interior parts of the local governments or communities, they lack quality routes, accessible routes to carry their produce from the farm down to the market, Some, the distance is also far and then some of them, they have this issue of post-harvest loss, that is after the harvest, that is the issue of off-takers, there are no off-takers to take over their products.

So some of them get into spoilage, and then some of them are being destroyed by pesticides, they have issues of pesticides, another one is crop theft, you know, when you have a big farm, you farm, you plant, and by the time you get there, it is either everything has been harvested before you or you find some strange people that you cannot even have the courage to go into the farm and then this insecurity is also part of the problem but their major problem is the issue of farm inputs.” she said.

Kelly urged the government to fix rural roads, support market linkages for farm produce and provide affordable farming equipment designed for women. She stressed that continuous training for farmers is equally important, noting that many women in rural communities have limited access to modern agricultural knowledge and techniques because of transportation costs and distance from urban centres.

Kelly further appealed to the government to visit farming communities and better understand the realities faced by smallholder farmers and youths engaged in agriculture.

Although the planned engagement with the commissioner did not take place, the advocacy visit continued with an orientation session on sustainable farming at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre, Uyo.

Project Lead of Horganicks Nigeria, Ediomo Oscar, said the organisation is promoting a transition from conventional farming practices to organic agriculture through an e-commerce platform that connects organic producers with buyers.

Oscar explained that the initiative also supports farmers by providing access to organic seeds, pesticides and other production materials while helping them overcome challenges associated with adopting organic farming practices.

He said the programme is aimed at building a network of farmers and young people committed to producing healthier food, protecting the environment and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.