How to Genuinely Boost Farming – Gojogojo

Alhaji Yau Umar Gojogojo

Alhaji Yau Umar Gojogojo is the chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Katsina State, and the proprietor of the famous Tafkin Bauna Farms. In this interview with MUAZU ELAZEH, he bares his mind on how the nation can attain self-sufficiency in food production and ultimately diversify the economy.


There has been general clamour to accord farming utmost priority. How best can Government assist in repositioning farming?
You see, it is a good thing that we have all appreciated the fact that agriculture is the way out. Oil which is the mainstay of our economy has failed and the declining price of the commodity is source of concern. I think this has engendered the thinking on all quarters on the need to focus on agriculture. It is heart-warming that government at all levels have seen the need for this and the president, specifically, never minces words in stressing the need to reposition agriculture. I think the best way out is for government to conduct data of all the farmers and classified them between large scale farmers and subsistence farmers.

How can government attract more citizens to farming?
This is necessary as it will help in ascertain the volume of support government can give the farmers. To effectively encourage farming, government needs to embark on soil test to ascertain which crop is suitable for a given area with a view to encouraging farmers in the area to embark on its cultivation. There has to be availability of improved seeds, fertilisers, adequate extension workers and other support services to educate farmers. We must address the issue of using technology because Advancement in technology has covered virtually all areas including farming where farm mechanisation is the in thing. Our farmers are in need of this too. You see, on the issue of fertiliser, this is May and the rains have set-in in most places. Ideally, by now, government ought to have made fertilisers available at the disposal of farmers but unfortunately, that is not the issue. All things said and done, there has to be a marketing board to control prices of farm produce so that farmers can have value for their investment. Once this is done, we can say confidently that we are on the verge on reposition farming in Nigeria.

As the chairman of AFAN in Katsina state what are the major challenges confronting average farmers in the state?
Well, the challenges are known to all as they are not new. As I said earlier, farming is gradually becoming a capital intensive venture and most farmers in the state don’t have money to engage in large scale farming which is needed to not only address the state food needs but to also provide the needed raw materials for industries and hence kick start our drive for industrialisation. So government needs to assist them with either funds or bank guarantee to enable them secure loan, government needs to provide modern farming implements for them too because, as I talk to you, our farmers still engage in the use of crude farming implements. We need like say, combined harvester and other modern farming implements across the state. This are among the basic needs of an average farmer and any genuine effort to encourage farming must address this.

 There is this concern about post-harvest processing. How will that be effectively handled so as to reduce wastages associated with post-harvest?
Yes it’s true that most of the farm produce are lost during post-harvest due largely to lack of proper means of processing them. In Katsina state for example, sometimes, while passing through Danja and other areas where tomatoes are cultivated in large quantity, one will be greeted with the level of wastages. Of course this has engendered calls for small industries to handle the processing of these produce. It is a nice idea but we have to make adequate arrangements for the large scale cultivation of the produce to be processed. For instance, you set up a tomato processing plant, there has to be adequate supply of the products so as to have the production on a sustained basis. Just look at what happened in the Dangote Tomato factory in Kano.

The company shut down due to lack of tomatoes to enable it continue to production. Dangote established the company to continue production for atleast six months before stopping but in less than three months, it has shut production due to lack of raw materials. So what is the way out? We have to put in place adequate machineries to ensure sustained production of the commodity so as to enable to feed the small scale industries. In the case of tomato, we need to have an all season seedlings so that the farmers that farm the commodity all through-out the year and be able to feed the industry at all times. Additionally too, to set up a flour processing plant, we must provide improved wheat seeds to farmers and support them to continually produce it so that the company will not run short of product to process. The situation is same for all the products.

So what would you recommend as immediate solutions?
I think what is immediate and very essential is for us to strengthen the production of the commodities. Once these commodities are made available and at all times, the industries will definitely locate us. I think what the government need to do is to assess critically, which industry needs to be established in a given place and how best can the products needed to feed the industry, be made available. Once this is done, we will help greatly in addressing scores of issues including our drive to industrialise, our drive to address unemployment and ultimately, boost the revenue of government.