ASABA/Nigeria: The Environmental And Rural Mediation Centre (ENVIRUMEDIC), ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), farmers, and other stakeholders have urged the Delta State Government to protect farm produce and secure the lives of farmers, with regular farmers’ sensitization programs on how to preserve and protect farm produce and insurance policies, especially smallholder farmers, to boost food production and guarantee food security.
They made the suggestions during the Delta State Stakeholders Consultative Meeting on the 2023 Agriculture Budget organized by ENVIRUMEDIC with support from ActionAid Nigeria, a non-governmental organization (NGO), held at the Orchid Hotels, Asaba, last Thursday.
The group’s Consultative Meeting centered and focussed on training stakeholders on agricultural innovation, protection of farm produce, and loan facilities not getting to the real farmers and not favourable to farmers.
During the meeting, the farmers expressed challenges facing their farm practices considering the agricultural risk, rising insecurity in farms, bed flu, farm raiding, cattle destructions, kidnapping, climate, and other natural disasters.
The Founder, Environmental and Rural Mediation Centre (ENVIRUMEDIC), Chief Monday Ogheneruona Itoghor, and others who presented papers noted that there would be an improvement if the agricultural budget is well appropriated.
While saying farmers were not encouraged to continue farm practices without protection and risk covers. He urged farmers to challenge some of the security issues that threaten their farms.
Urging the government to scale up investment in agriculture and ensure timely total budget releases as a strategic approach to increase food production, Itoghor encouraged farmers to change their unproductive strategies to reduce hunger and poverty.
In carrying out the farmers and stakeholders consultative meeting, Itoghor said “ENVIRUMEDIC had always been advising poultry farmers to be consulting veterinary Doctors and other agricultural experts from time to time on the health safety of birds and other animals from infection”.
