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Farmers in the South-East states of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu, have attributed high rate of insecurity, climate change, limited access to loan and farm inputs as major challenges facing them in the zone.
Some of them, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on their challenges as wet farming begins, said they hardly went to the farm for fear of herdsmen and unknown gunmen.
These issues, they said, hindered productivity and posed a threat to food security in the region and the entire country, calling on state governments and relevant agencies to take proactive measures to address them.
In Enugu State, the Chairman, All Farmers Association (AFAN), Romanus Eze, said late rains due to climate change affected farmers that cultivated early as the rain was not consistent and enough to penetrate soil needed for good farming.
He feared that the delay and gap might affect their output and make some who borrowed to cultivate bankrupt.
Eze encouraged farmers to hold on a while before engaging into massive cultivation of crop, advising them to wait in the next one or two weeks for heavy rainfall to set in.
On farm input, the chairman expressed happiness that the Enugu State state government secured 100 tractors for Enugu farmers, saying, “I have seen the 100 tractors the government has provided and another 100 is underway.
“But other inputs are yet to come such as quality and improved seedlings, fertilizer and other agro chemicals whose prices in the market are very high.
“I am afraid farmers may not afford enough of these inputs for their farms if there is no subsidy or grant from the government”.
He alleged that farmers from the zone hardly accessed loans from the Bank of Agriculture unlike their counterparts in the North due to some stringent measures put in place.
Eze, who lamented the development, acknowledged that in the past, Agric Bank was a national bank where Nigerian farmers accessed loans for agricultural purposes, noting that the bank seemed not to work effectively in the South East.
“Here in the southeast, it is very difficult for us to access the loan from the same bank with the same operational guidelines.
“Most farmers from the north access it with ease based on the report they gave during our meetings in Abuja.
“I ask, why is our own so difficult to access when the policy is the same? There is need for them to help us and reorient our farmers on how best to access these loans for us to achieve food security in the country,” said.
Eze added that most people could not go to their farms due to insecurity in some communities in Enugu State.
According to him, some farmers hire vigilante to escort them to farm because of herdsmen attack and pays heavily for their services and this needs to be addressed
“The other day, a lot of people were looking for cassava stem and the cost of it has risen to N3,500 per bundle against N1,500 we bought last year,” he noted.
Another farmer, Anthony Obasi from Aninri Council Area, said their major challenge was lack of tractors to till their land.
“Also, as we are clearing the land, we need agro inputs seedlings to plant in them. Aside that, we experience the challenges of insecurity because we are boundary communities prone to attacks from neighbouring communities.
“We are bordered by Ebonyi people; from the east we have Akaeze community, which bordered Okpanku and up north is Isiagu but we are not having problem with Isiagu.
“Okpanku also bordered Ubulu people where we are having incessant killings of farmers. When you come to Ndiagbo, Nnenwe and Oduma, they are still having the issue of herdsmen,” he said.
While thanking the state government for boosting agriculture in Enugu, he alleged that most inputs they were providing were not given to the real farmers.
Eveliyn Nwaru, added that climate change affected them greatly given the rain pattern which began in February in Enugu.
According to her, it rained on February 28, repeated on March 5 and we thought that it had started. It took three weeks thereafter for another rain and those crop such as maize that farmers planted in March developed stunt growth.
“But today, we really thanked God as the rain fell a lot. We also have the challenges of pest attacking our maize and okro”.
