Despite progress made in recent years in boosting Nigeria’s rice production, it has been a different story for farmers in Plateau State. They have not fared well in this regard, despite their efforts.
While rice farmers in major producing states had a bumper harvest in 2017, Plateau State rice farmers experienced shortfalls owing to declining yields per hectare.
Various accounts of farmers in Mangu and Ndai, major rice producing communities in the state, reveal that farmers were unable to get adequate supply of key inputs such as fertilisers, and quality seeds to boost their yield as well as finance to expand their production areas.
For Ezekiel MangkoimShikse, a member of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria(RIFAN), Mangu, Plateau State Chapter, his 2017 rice harvest is one of the lowest he has harvested since he began rice farming 10 years ago.
“In 2016, the rice I harvested was over 140 bags, but last year I harvested a little above 40 bags. This is over 90 bags less than 2016 production. My harvest was poor because of substandard inputs and changing rainfall patterns we experienced in 2017,” Shikse said.
“The 2017 heavy rainfall affected my production because by the time the rice brings out grains, it does not require heavy rainfall. It needs moisture, but the rainfall was heavy and this destroyed the grains that were already formed. So at the end of the planting season, the output was not good”, he added.
Shikse’s case is similar to that of Francis Ossia, deputy chairman, RIFAN, a Mangu resident, who told BDSUNDAY that his bumper harvest of 2016 motivated him to expand his production line by two hectares for the 2017 farming season.
“After planting for the season the rainfall came so hard and I could hardly harvest anything from my rice farm after the planting season,” Ossia said.
“Apart from heavy rainfall, I could not get the adequate finance to purchase enough inputs such as chemicals, for my farm,” he added.
Shikse and Ossia’s cases are similar to what many rice farmers in the state experienced in 2017 planting season, leading to low rice output.
The scheme, which is already gaining traction in Kebbi State, provides loan to farmers at single digit interest rate in the form of farm inputs.
Simon FilibusLe’An, a retired civil servant, who resides in Ndai, now into commercial farming, is also the secretary, RIFAN, Mangu. He described his last planting season as unsuccessful, following a delay in getting a tractor for harrowing which was supposed to be carried out by Agricultural Services and Training Centres (ASTC).
The ASTC was created to introduce principles of commercial agriculture in a rural subsistence agricultural setting through the provision of comprehensive, proven and state-of-the-art agricultural services to the farming community in Plateau State.
But checks revealed that the scheme has failed to provide farmers with the needed support to boost their yields per hectare.
Poor government support
One of such initiatives the Buhari administration has used to increase agricultural growth in the country is the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).
The government introduced the APB to provide credit in form of inputs for rice farmers to increase their production areas thereby boosting productivity.
The APB, which is being managed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), started in Kebbi State and has since gained a lot of traction and recorded great success stories.
The ABP, which also increased the country’s rice production from about 4 million metric tons to seven million metric tons, failed when it was replicated in other key rice producing states in the country, experts told BDSUNDAY.
Plateau state is one of such states where farmers who registered under the scheme had received poor support.
The farmers told our correspondent that the process and procedures of getting inputs from the government was very rigorous, with many resorting to get their inputs such as fertilisers and seeds from local markets.
“We get our fertilizers from the open market. The procedure for getting the fertilizers from the government is a big mess, and a serious problem. So, we always to go where we can get it, no matter the cost”, Ossia said, with sadness.
Ossia commended the GoodluckJonathan administration for the model of distribution of inputs it adopted for farmers in the country.
“The government said we would purchase fertilisers at N5,000, but we are still not getting it at that price. And they said we must come together in order to buy a truck, and before we can do that it might be too late because fertilizers need to be applied within the first week of planting,” Ossia added.
Corroborating, Shikse said: “Before the farming season, the Plateau State Government said it would assist the farmers with seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and money through the ABP. People from the ministry even visited our farms to measure their sizes. We waited all through last year but nothing happened after the visit.”
Speaking on how he has been able to address the issue, Shikse said that “all farmers fund themselves through personal savings and sale of their produce.”
Lack of extension agents
Despite the potential of Nigeria’s agricultural sector to diversify the economy, it is still fraught with a lot of challenges. One of such challenges is the collapse of agricultural extension services which has been seriously weakened by inadequate funding to support field extension agents.
“Extension agents hardly visit my farm. Since I got inputs from the Plateau State Agricultural Development Programme (PADP) in 2016 till now no extension agent has visited my farm,” Ossia who was earlier quoted said.
“If you go to the agents, they will tell you they have no fuel for their motorcycle for them to supervise your farm. The extension agents do not get money from the government, so how would they fund their transportation to farms? he lamented.
We are up to date at PADP in terms of supervision –Wakchin
Godwin Wakchin, subject matter specialist, Crops PADP, Mangu Zone, said in a conversation with BDSUNDAY that the organisation is usually up to date in terms of supervision and described those saying otherwise as being economical with the truth.
“We have extension agents that usually visit farmlands across the state,” Wakchin said.
While explaining the duties of the extension unit, Wakchin said: “The agents usually train farmers on how to raise their standard of living and adopting new technologies.”
According to him, in constructing ridges, the new spacing technique in-between ridges are 75 centimetres, but farmers make use of 90 centimetres. Hence, farmers were usually educated on the new method and encouraged to use them.
Apart from the spacing in ridge-making, Wakchin said that farmers were also educated on planting spacing which leads to having enough planting population, that results in more yield for farmers.
He also listed Demonstration Plot, Management Training Plot (MTP), On-Farm Adaption Research (ONFAR), Small Plot Adaption Technique (SPAT) as programmes the unit executes for the benefit of farmers within the zone.
While confirming the engagement of the unit in the supervision of farms, he however, admitted that lack of funding which also impedes mobility was a challenge they are facing, and to beat this challenge, motorcycles were being used. He debunked claims that Extension workers ask farmers to fuel their motorcycles before going to supervise their farms.
