The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Rivers chapter, has called on the Federal Government to collaborate with local farmers in the state to enhance food sufficiency.
State Organising Secretary, Chua Abbey, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Port Harcourt.
Abbey attributed food shortage in the state to poor road infrastructure, herdsmen invasion and lack of government incentives, urging the government to address the menace in a bid to enhance agriculture productivity.
According to her, there are no access roads in most farm settlements around the state which makes it difficult for farmers to transport harvested produce to sales points.
“This year’s theme for the World Food Day, ‘Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future,’ emphasised the need for stakeholders’ collaboration toward tackling food shortage.
“We celebrated the World Food Day; yet, there is food insufficiency here in Rivers.
‘’That is why we are urging the Federal and State Governments to collaborate with the local farmers to tackle this challenge,’’ she said.
Abbey said that already, on Oct. 1, the National President of AFAN, Mr Faruk Mudi, had inaugurated a digital identification platform for Rivers farmers.
She expressed the farmers’ hope for a robust synergy with government at all levels moving forward but added that the speculated Federal Government support for farmers was yet to reach the state AFAN members.
She urged members to remain calm as Mudi had set a new pace, synergising with the Minister for Agriculture to ensure that farmers were no longer shortchanged by non-actors.
Abbey noted that at the grassroots level, AFAN was also collaborating with the Directors of Agriculture across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in a bid to ensure land availability for mechanised agriculture.
She further said that the state Ministry of Agriculture had disclosed that no fewer than 40 tractors had been assigned to the farmers.
On challenges of flood in the state, Abbey noted that farmers had started counting their losses, especially in Gokhana, Khana and Eleme areas that were badly hit.
She noted that the impact had further raised concerns about possible increase in prices of staple foodstuffs, especially garri, maize, yam and plantain amongst others.
NAN
