ADO-EKITI/Nigeria: An Agriculture Extension Officer, Niyi Adebayo, has called for the introduction of an appropriate pricing regime for farm produce, by government and development practitioners, as a way of boosting farmers’ productivity and income.
Adebayo made the call in an interview with the media in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti.
The Agriculture Extension and Rural Development expert said the call for an appropriate pricing regime had become imperative, in order to avail farmers with a minimum guaranteed price of farm produce so as to boost their morale, productivity and income.
He noted that the present situation whereby the Nigerian farmer subsidised the cost of farm produce for consumers up to the tune of between 50 and 1,000 per cent for different categories of commodities in the value chain was not economically viable.
Adebayo stated that the system had failed to address the problem of produce pricing comprehensively, in spite of the minimum guarantee price scheme that was already in place.
“The average Nigerian farmer produces a cob of maize at between N50 and N70 and is forced to sell it at between N20 and N30.
“A major problem with agriculture in Nigeria, which requires the special attention of government and development practitioners, is in the appropriate pricing of farm produce.
“More importantly, this has to be addressed if agriculture is to be modernised,” he said.
Adebayo said that threats associated with huge post-harvest losses, estimated at 20 percent, had constituted a serious hindrance to efforts to modernise Nigeria’s agriculture and to attain food security.
Besides, Adebayo called for the active involvement of the country’s 774 Local Government Areas in the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda, to enable it to achieve the desired results.
He said that there was a disconnect between what tertiary institutions were teaching and the actual needs or demands of farmers, agro-industries and other practitioners in the agriculture sector.
“There are three Federal Universities of Agriculture, over 40 Faculties of Agriculture, about 25 Colleges of Agriculture and 18 agriculture or related research institutes in Nigeria.
“With all these in place, one would have thought that the framework for modernising the agriculture sector is firmly entrenched.
“Unfortunately, this is far from the truth because there appears to be a mismatch or disconnect between the teachings of the institutions and the demands of farmers,” he said.
