In the next few weeks, the farming season will commence across the country with millions of farmers expected to start work on their farms. According to the seasonal forecast provided by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), for this year, the onset of rains will be delayed till around May 29, in the central states of the country, while in the northern states, it is likely to commence around June 13.
NiMet also forecast an early end to the season, falling between October 6 and November in Yobe, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kano, Kebbi, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi, Cross River, Ebonyi, Ogun and Lagos states. It further predicted that most parts of the country are expected to experience a shorter length of the season. It therefore advised the planting of early-maturing varieties of crops at the beginning of the season.
The bottom line of this prediction by NiMet is that there is the utmost need for farmers to prepare early and ensure that they have all the input required for a successful harvest early enough to avoid any mishap. What this means is that farmers should by now begin to acquire inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, seeds and the implements to ensure a successful season.
Ordinarily, this is the time when the federal and state governments would start making preparations for the purchase, distribution and sale of inputs to farmers. Sadly, we note that like in previous years, nothing much has been heard in that direction. Many of our government officials, especially the politicians, are more engrossed with the distribution of the so-called palliatives, thus taking care of the present and ignoring the future.
While they are thus busy, the price of a bag of fertiliser has skyrocketed to N48,000. For a farmer cultivating one hectare of land, he will require at least four bags for a successful maize harvest. Farmers also face similar high costs of other inputs such as seeds, herbicides and pesticides. This forces some of them into either buying sub-standard products or a resort to traditional alternatives. The result is poor yield and loss of revenue. In addition to all these, is the high cost of labour and fuel, which further puts an average farmer into an extreme situation.
We, at Daily Trust, are worried that little attention is being paid to this dire situation. This is more so given the high cost of food being experienced in the country, and the small-holder farmer remains key to the nation’s food security.
We acknowledge the various pronouncements made by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of his administration’s commitment to supporting our farmers. In August 2023, he promised to release 225,000 metric tons of fertiliser, seedlings and other inputs to farmers. But it is important such pronouncements are followed with concrete actions.
We also welcome the release of 2.15 million bags of fertiliser by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. However, it is worrying that nothing has been heard about the distribution of the commodity since the handover more than a month ago.
More importantly, state governments share a greater responsibility to ensure adequate supply of inputs to the farmers. They need a little reminder that agriculture is on the concurrent list under our Constitution. Yet, little is heard from them.
Daily Trust believes very strongly that if state and local government councils pay more attention to agriculture, the fortunes of the country will improve. Apart from meeting our food needs, it is the single sector that employs millions of our population.
We also urge the federal government to pay more attention to implementing policies that would ease the supply of fertiliser, seeds and other inputs to the markets to tame their rising prices. There is a need for the review of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative to ensure fertiliser blending plants resume production. Our farmers need urgent attention from the government to ensure they receive all the necessary inputs to cultivate their lands.
Above all, there must be concerted efforts to tame the activities of bandits and militias wreaking havoc across the country and scaring millions of farmers away from their farms. These actions must be taken immediately for the nation’s food security and stability.
