Cocoa farmers under the aegis of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to stop with immediate effect, the distribution of agric inputs by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, especially to Cocoa farmers, saying the inputs are substandard and adulterated as it has destroy their cocoa trees and farmlands.
In a statement made available to BusinessDay in Akure, Ondo State capital and jointly signed by the national president, national secretary, national vice president (South-West) and public relations officer of the association, the farmers called on President Buhari to stop the procurement, saying the inputs procured by the ministry had been doing more harms than good to the crop.
According to the Association, some of the inputs allegedly procured by the Ministry include, fungicide, insecticides and cutlasses, adding: “The procured inputs particularly fungicide had destroyed our cocoa trees and farms.
“We want President Buhari to realize that most of the inputs procured in the past like, jute bags, solo sprayer pumps, fungicide and insecticides were rejected by the cocoa farmers as a result of its low standard while those farmers that used part of it regretted their actions because of the negative impact on their cocoa farms.”
The association also noted that it had earlier appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture to always consult farmers whenever critical issues relating to “the procurement of inputs arise in order to know our demand for the year.”
The statement said the Association had written series of letters to the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe, on the matter but there was no response from him, just as the group threatened to stage protests across the country if nothing is done to the matter.
The statement added, “We strongly appealed to Mr. President to move into the matter urgently to save cocoa farmers from untimely death due to the havoc caused by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.”
Meanwhile, some of the officials and officers of the Ministry that distributed the controversial inputs in Ondo state were contacted on the matter, but they declined to comment and referred our Correspondent to the Headquarters of the Ministry in Abuja.
One of them, who did not want his name in print said, “We can’t say anything on the matter here, you can contact the Abuja office.”
YOMI AYELESO, Akure
