NEWS: Farmers In Enugu Cried Out Over The Crash In Prices Of Rice and Garri

 


Some farmers in Enugu State, Wednesday, called on the federal government to restrict the importation of some food items into Nigeria to save the fortunes of local farmers. According to them, the development had discouraged them from further farming investments.


Cyprian Ajah is a farmer at Okpanku in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State. He lamented that his investments in farming had been lost due to the market price crash.


Quoting him, “I cultivated cassava and rice in commercial quantities in Okpanku. But what I thought would be my moments of joy had become agonising. Many farmers are going through the same pains. By this time last year, a 50kg bag of rice was sold at N55, 000. This year, it is N35, 000 only. The same last year, a 100kg bag of rice was around N120, 000. This year, it is N67, 000. For garri, ten cups of garri last year were sold for N2,000. This year, twenty cups of garri go for N2,000.


“In terms of labour, the daily wage for cultivation last year was N3,000; this year, it is N6,000. Daily clearing of weeds this year is N4,000 as against last year’s N1, 500. The cost of herbicides this year is far higher than that of last year. Fertilisers are also expensive. Having spent all these, one had expected that we would make some fortunes during the harvest period. But the reverse has become the case.”


He attributed the development to the federal government’s opening of borders which made foreign food items to flood Nigerian markets.


Ajah said, “The federal government should restrict food importations into Nigeria to enable local farmers to survive this economic crunch. Otherwise, the government should anticipate farmer apathy next year and beyond. We have laboured in vain. The high cost of farming also stemmed from the failure of the government to subsidise agro materials. We expected subsidies in fertilisers, herbicides, and access to agro machinery. We were told to form cooperative societies for easy access to agro incentives. But not much of such incentives got to genuine farmers.”


Obiora Edeh is a cassava farmer at Ikem in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area. He said, “It is discouraging. I cultivated over three hectares of cassava last year. I hired labourers, bought fertilisers, spent a lot on herbicides and so on. I had projected that a bag of garri would be around N30, 000 minimum to enable me to make some gains. The opposite happened. In some cases, a bag goes for N14, 000. The worst is to sell unprocessed cassava tubers. I carried some to the market. The unsold ones were left to rot. What I realised from my farming proceeds this year is far below the cost of labour alone let alone other expenses. The efforts were not worth it.”


Samson Ogbuka hails from Mpu in Aninri LGA. He said, “I really don’t know what to do. Garri processing passes through many stages, all costly. The dilemma is whether to abandon the farm or not. The species of the cassava I planted stays only nine months to mature. The tubers decay if they are allowed to stay beyond nine months. Paying labourers to peel, grind and fry raw cassava to make garri is expensive. I have not considered transportation. If you count all these, one is already counting losses even before the garri is taken to the market for sale. I think farming is no longer worth it. The federal government deceived us.


@ NairaLand

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