Farmers Still Struggling Despite FG’s Emergency Declaration

Three months after President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food security in Nigeria, the farmers who produce food for Nigeria are still facing the same challenges that led to the government’s action.

In July 2023, the president declared a state of emergency on food, with the government considering the situation of food production and availability as a matter of national security and urgency. The action requires that the government take some measures to address the challenges faced by Nigerian farmers and consumers.

Farmers across the country who were expecting their fortunes to change after the government of President Tinubu declared a state of emergency are, however, yet to ascertain the objectives of the government in spite of the growing challenges that are forcing more Nigerians to abandon their farms.

And while the federal government insists it is implementing programmes to improve the challenges faced by farmers, its policies appear to be having little impact in many states.

LEADERSHIP Weekend’s findings show that despite government’s efforts to address food security, vulnerability to human insecurity and displacements, climate change, armed conflicts, rural banditry, conflicts over natural resources,  economic shocks and macroeconomic instabilities have continued to push many Nigerians into economic stress and food insecurity.

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According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO),  the Nigerian government must address other key drivers of food insecurity such as: crude oil price volatility, regional crises, inflation, supply chain crises/disruptions and vulnerability to climate change (extreme weather events), droughts, desertification, land degradations, and biodiversity losses to achieve its agricultural transformation.

Already, the UN agency last week confirmed that 24 million Nigerians were affected by food insecurity between June and August, 2023 as projected in the Cadre Harmonisé (CH) analysis report released earlier this year.

However,  the September 2023 headline inflation rate released last week by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed an increase to 26.72 per cent mostly driven by high cost of food with 30.6 percent inflation. The development indicates that the presidential declaration of the state of emergency on food security is yet to show manifest results that will lead to the achievement of the desired food and nutrition security transformation.

Minister of agriculture and food security, Abubakar Kyari, had on October 6 unveiled a comprehensive roadmap to drive the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda for the agricultural sector.

In addressing the most pressing needs in the sector, the minister said that the federal government was handling preparation for the next dry season farming beginning with plans to cultivate 70, 000 hectares of wheat in November, with a target production of about 875,000 metric tonnes.

However, the current total allocation of N426.98 billion (1.96 per cent of national budget) falls far short of expectations as Maputo Declaration recommends 10 percent of countries’ annual budget to agriculture. According to analysts, the 1.96 per cent budgetary allocation to agriculture in the 2023 budget demonstrates lack of commitment to the sector’s transformation.

There is also no known supplementary budget allocated to drive the objectives of the state of emergency on food security.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP Weekend, the director of information, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Joel Oruche said the ministry was implementing projects to support farmers in cultivating staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava with critical farm inputs at subsidised rates, including high-yielding, drought-tolerant, disease-resistant, and nutritionally fortified crop varieties.

According to him, the government has provided farmers with access to quality inputs, targeted subsidies for fertilisers and pesticides, education on modern farming techniques, and infrastructure development for dry season farming.

Dr. Oruche said the declaration of the state of emergency on food security intends to align policies, resources and implementation strategies to boost productivity and ensure quantum leap in production to guarantee household and national food security.

He said, “The government is also introducing dry season irrigated farming across the country, utilizing abundant irrigable lands with functional irrigation facilities. This is in response to food demand-supply gaps created by insecurity, removal of fuel subsidies, and Ukraine-Russia conflicts.

“The ministry has provided animal feeds, salt lick, poultry transportation cages, pasture seeds, and cuttings as support for increased production, conducted nationwide sensitisation and awareness creation on biosecurity measures for livestock farmers, butchers, hides, and skin value-chain actors, and mass vaccination of animals against trans-boundary animal and zoonotic diseases.”

According to him, several initiatives have been implemented to support farmers, including land development, construction of micro earth dams, rehabilitation of dams, and design and installation of solar-powered dryers/cold storage rooms at vegetable markets.

Also, he said, training has been conducted on climate resilient practices in tomato, rice, maize, yam, cowpea, maize, and chicken pea production.

“The Ministry also conducted an assessment visit to inspect agricultural implements and equipment recommended for smallholder farmers.

Training programmes have been conducted for women on small ruminants, youth in poultry enterprises, and farmers in various states. Additionally, training has been conducted on electronic crop management, cassava farming, and poultry farming,” he added.

States End Subsidy On Fertiliser

While the federal government’s efforts can only go so far, some states have completely stopped offering support to farmers, particularly when it comes to subsidies on fertiliser, which were once popular in northern states.

The Katsina State government, for example, has officially not distributed fertilisers to farmers in the last eight years.

This was disclosed by some farmers in the state, who said individual farmers usually purchased the product from the market at exorbitant prices yearly without waiting on the government.

Abbas Sulaiman is one among several farmers who are currently lamenting low crop yields compared to last year’s harvest,

He said, “I’m cultivating groundnut, beans, maize and sorghum. This year we were able to make some harvest, but it can’t be compared to last year due to late rainfall and lack of fertiliser.

“Any farmer seen with fertiliser around here purchased it with his money. The last time the government disbursed fertiliser to farmers was about seven to eight years ago.”

However, LEADERSHIP Weekend learnt that some politicians usually took it upon themselves to disburse fertilisers to farmers as part of their constituency support.

A lawmaker representing Musawa/Matazu federal constituency, Abdullahi Aliyu Ahmed, it was learnt, has recently donated four truck-loads of assorted fertilisers to farmers in his constituency to boost food production in the area, a crucial gesture given the devastating impact of the security challenges and hardship facing the people.

Some Kaduna farmers said lack of fertiliser subsidy and removal of fuel subsidy had negatively impacted their farming business in the state.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP Weekend, a farmer, Gideon Cyprian, a resident of Janruwa, said: “I recently bought NPK for N24,000 per bag. During the rainy season, I bought one bag for N28,000. I think the fuel subsidy removal and lack of fertiliser subsidy for farmers is the cause of the high cost of fertiliser during the rainy season.”

Another farmer, a resident of Television Village, Kaduna, Joseph Gambo, said: “I bought Indorama Urea at N20,000 per bag now because of dry season farming. The demand to buy is low because of the dry season in Kaduna. Government should subsidise fertiliser for us.”