Wheat Stakeholders |
This position was
taken during the wheat farmers’ convergence at Abuja where conspicuous challenges
militating against the accelerated programme of the crop productivity towards
substituting billion of dollar spent on imports were highlighted with a call on
government to ensure mop-up as initially agreed when they were requested to go
into production even without recourse to the off takers.
Some of the farmers
told Food Farm News that it was high
time government woke up to its responsibility if it actually wanted to achieve
an agriculturally diversified economy which was the hallmark of this Buhari
administration.
The chairman, wheat
producers, Gombe state, Mr Batari
Dauda, who spoke amongst
others said that government needs to intervene by speedily mopping up the wheat
excess across the country so as to further encourage farmers to plant more against
the 2017/18 seasons adding that most of the wheat farmers are already abandoning
farming for other businesses.
Speaking on availability of improved
seeds, the chairman said that the initial target of 10, 000 hectares in the
state was hindered due to lack of improved seeds as he stated “the cultivation
was limited by lack of quality seeds and farming implements. Most of the
farmers said the seed they secured was plantable materials which mean the seeds
that had been planted for over five years”
He stated further that “this results to
deterioration in terms of quality because the yield will not be good. Initially
Lake Chad Research Institute brought us foundation seed, but the problem we had
with them is that the seed is not sufficient but was good”
Mr. Dauda said those that were able to
plant the crop early realized three to four tons on each hectare while those
that planted late realized between one and two tons per hectare.
However Food farm news gathered that a state government in the North West
was already querying a purchase of wheat grains for farmers. Our source refused
to tell us the particular state but pointed investigation is ongoing to
unruffled the whole process that led to this purchase.
Our anonymous source pointed that the
high proliferation of fake seeds in circulation was as resource of road sides
purchase of grains without recourse to register agro dealers or seeds producers
adding wheat revival in Nigeria may be scuttled if immediate action is not
taken as incidence of bad seeds in some states in the North west was still
giving a repercussion of what a bad seeds can inflict on the economy.
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