Adamawa Farmers Charge Govt On Agric Inputs

Some farmers in Adamawa have appealed to the state government to provide them with fertilisers, pesticides and improved seeds to enable them engage in commercial farming.

A cross section of the farmers told newsmen in Yola that they had yet to receive the farming inputs the state government said it had given farmers.

During the first All Nigerian Farmers meeting held recently in Yola, by Governor Murtala Nyako said the government had made “giant stride’’ to achieve its food security programme.

He said that rural farmers had been provided with the necessary training and agricultural inputs to actualise their dreams to go into commercial farming.

But one of the farmers, Malam Hamidu Chigari, from Gurin ward in Fufore local government area, described the governor’s assertion as “political talk’’.

“ Last year, our farms were devastated by locust, some government officials from Yola and Abuja visited us and promised us emergency assistance, but up till this moment we are yet to receive the assistance,’’ he said.

He said the only way farmers could access agricultural inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides and high breed seed was through the local markets and private agricultural suppliers who sold them at exorbitant prices.

Mr Yohanna Pwal, a farmer from Demsa local government area, said the agricultural inputs supplied by government to farmers were insufficient.

He said that he would need not less than six to seven bags of fertilisers for this year’s farming season.

“Four of us were given one bag of fertiliser to share, which is inadequate for a farmer like me,’’ he said.

He urged the governor to hand over distribution of agricultural inputs to farmers’ cooperatives and organisations who, he said, know the real farmers.