The Federal Government has been called upon to provide farmers with essential things like inputs and tractorisation for land preparation, which is one of the biggest problems facing farmers in the country. The National President of Tomatoes and Orchard Producers Association of Nigeria (TOPAN), Bola Oyeleke, made the call in an interview with FarmingFarmersFarms, stressing that the government must do everything within it’s power to revive the sector and empower the farmers.
“We don’t have good equipment for land preparation. We need government to look at all these to see that food can be produced in all the states in Nigeria and not just producing food, but healthy food and by increasing our productivity. We need to bring more young people into agriculture, we need to bring more women into incubation processes to process more of our foods. All these are challenges that we are facing for years. The government should look into land and accessibility, how land can create employment and food in the system, how to revive land code, especially land use for farmer.
However, he said that the threat with food security had been for many years in Nigeria and pumping money into agriculture without taking care of security will be in vain. “You will find out that without security, what we are labouring for will be in vain because the threat with food security has been for many years in Nigeria and pumping money into agriculture without taking care of the security will be in vain”. Oyeleke applauded the Federal Government’s idea that all matters pertaining to food, water availability and affordability to be in the purview of the National Security Council to see how they will be able to secure not just the food, but also the small scale farmers that produce the food.
“The first thing to do is to see what the National Security Council can do on security and change the narrative of agriculture where people will not be scared of going to farms. All these are one of the fundamental things that the government needs to do. I will like the government to look at the agro rangers too, in all locations, they can serve these purpose, they should revive the agro rangers into the National Security Council. These are what we should be looking at, how the community can immediately pick up a phone and dial for emergency, if there is a threat on the food security in the agricultural sector in each local governments”, he added.
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