Cassava Farmers Charge FG On Land Clearing

Cassava Farmers
Association of Nigeria has urged the Federal Government to clear more arable land to boost agricultural production and create more jobs.
The National President of the association, Mr Segun Adewunmi, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Abuja recently.
Adewunmi identified land clearing and access to low interest loans as the major challenges currently facing Nigerian farmers.
He, however, acknowledged that the government was doing a lot to improve the sector but said more work needed to be done in the area of land clearing.
“To clear one million hectares will cost about N25 billion which is not up to what government spends on less important projects ,considering the number of people this would employ.
“If government can go out and get a loan and clear five million hectares, you can imagine the number of Nigerians that would be engaged in both primary production and processing.’’
He said that a conducive environment was imperative to enable farmers to compete favourably with their counterparts elsewhere.
Adewunmi noted that a Nigerian farmer harvested 11 tonnes  to 15 tonnes from one hectare of land while his counterpart in South Africa get 45 tonnes to 60 tonnes at the same cost.
The difference, he said, was the fact that cultivable land and mechanisation were available at low cost unlike in Nigeria.