Union Calls For Reintroduction Of Produce Boards

Etche Cooperative
Union, has called on the president Muhammadu-led Federal Government to reintroduce  marketing boards.
President of the cooperative union, Mr Godwin Akandu, who stated this while speaking to our correspondent in a telephone interview on Monday said this would enhance mopping up of agricultural products that are now wasting in the country.
He said the buying back mechanism  of the excess produce in the market would go a long way in solving the food needs of the country.
Akandu also explained that marketing boards operations could encourage food security in the country as well as boost the economic base of the rural farmers.
According to him, to make for an effective operation, such outfits should be replicated across the 36 states of the country and the FCT, Abuja.
“Waste produce that follows every harvest season due to poor storage system by rural farmers is alarming” he said.
On the disbursement of loans to genuine farmers, the ECU boss called on farmers to belong to farmers cooperatives to enable them access loans easily.
He stated that government had good intention for the growth of agriculture in the country even as he called on them to deal directly with the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN).
He said it was through AFAN that the real farmers could benefit from any government incentives even as he expressed the view that the nation was capable of feeding its teeming population.
“If Indonesia with a population of over 250 million can feed itself then Nigeria can do the same,” he said.