Small scale farmers
have complained about being excluded from financial aids provided by
the various agricultural funds floated by the federal government and
other donor agencies.
They say this is part of the reasons for the high consumer inflation prevalent in the country.
Comfort Olaosun,
president of the Cassava Growers and Processors Association, Osun state
chapter, said peasant farmers’ inability to access funds set aside by
government is frustrating government’s effort to enhance agriculture
development in the country.
“Government has
been clamouring about enhancing food cultivation in the country and we
have been reading about various efforts and loan packages on the pages
of newspapers; unfortunately, nobody I know has received money from any
of the funds,” he said. “We just read about it on the pages of the
papers. We are not even sure if anybody has received it. At least to my
best of knowledge no small scale farmer in Osun state has received part
of any of the loan and this is affecting our activities because we only
cultivate what we can afford to maintain,” she said.
Agricultural credits
The federal and
state governments in 2009 rolled out various agricultural funding
schemes, aside from the budgetary allocations for the agricultural
sector, aimed at encouraging more farmers to go into food production
for security and export purposes.
Part of the federal
government effort was the launch of the N200 billion Commercial
Agriculture Credit Scheme, out of which 100 billion was given to First
Bank of Nigeria plc and United Bank of Africa to disburse to farmers.
The governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was quoted as
saying that 656,000 farmers have so far benefited from about N42
billion provided by the agriculture credit guarantee fund since its
establishment in 1978.
Mr. Sanusi said the
N200 billion credit scheme, which is a seven-year single digit loan
aimed at encouraging value chain activities in Nigeria, is now
available to farmers.
However, small scale farmers argue that the manner in which the loan is administered, only favours the commercial farmers.
Organic foods
Also in a related
development, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO), earlier in the week said that about 5000 West African farmers
are currently able to take advantage of the growing popularity of
organic foods in industrialised countries.
The increasing
interest is attributed to the $2.4 million German-backed programme that
has helped the farmers meet the necessary certification and other
requirements.
The market for
organic and fair-trade products in developed countries is expected to
grow by about five to 10 percent annually over the next three years,
offering new opportunities for smallholder farmers in poor countries.
However, these poor farmers struggle to comply with high-level food
standards in the developed countries and the need to meet certification
requirements.
Furthermore, to
enter organic markets, the farmers first have to go through a
conversion period from conventional to organic agriculture during which
they tend to incur higher costs as a result of applying new organic
techniques without obtaining the higher prices usually associated with
the organic label.
Agro-industry development
Meanwhile, African
Heads of State participating at the on-going High Level Conference on
the Development of Agri-business and Agro-Industries in Africa (3ADI)
in Abuja have articulated a seven point declaration to accelerate the
development of agriculture in the continent.
The declaration,
according to them, iss to articulate the important role of agriculture
in national development for adequate resource allocation.
To ensure the sustainability of this policy thrust, they also
expressed commitment to the establishment of “requisite legal,
regulatory and institutional framework to support agri-business and
agro-industry development.”
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