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Farmers need grants, not loans – Oke

By on September 16, 2013

South West Coordinator of Cassava Stakeholders Association of Nigeria, Otunba Femi Oke, who was sworn in recently as the Lagos State chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), speaks with TOSIN ADENIRAN on the recent divestment into agriculture.

The Nigeria-Kenya pact is expected to boost the agriculture sector. What do you think will benefit the Nigerian farmers in this pact?

Signing a pact with Kenya is one of the decisions that I believe will bring meaningful development to Nigerian farmers. The pact is majorly about knowledge-sharing, picking ideas from Kenya, a country that produces and exports lots of agricultural produce such as tobacco and coffee. Kenya agricultural economy has gone fast on Kenyan’s pace; their dependence is relatively low compared to us. Agriculture in Kenya continues to dominate the country’s economy, although only 15 to 17 per cent of Kenya’s total land area has sufficient fertility and rainfall to be farmed, and only seven to eight per cent can be classified as first-class land. In 2006, almost 75 per cent of working Kenyans made their living by farming, compared with 80 per cent in 1980. About half of Kenya’s total agricultural output is non-marketed subsistence production.

Agriculture is also the largest contributor to Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2005, agriculture, including forestry and fishing, accounted for about 24 per cent of the GDP, as well as 18 per cent of wage employment and 50 per cent of revenue from exports. Agriculture is the backbone of Kenya’s economy and central to the government of Kenya’s development strategy. Kenya’s agriculture sector employs more than 75 per cent of the workforce and accounts both directly and indirectly for approximately 51 per cent of the country’s GDP. Kenya’s population is growing by approximately one million people per year. Combined with stagnant agricultural productivity and limited arable land, this demographic growth poses critical challenges to food security.

As far as I know, this is the first real pact that we believe will help improve the agriculture sector and, for the first time, it is not only talking about crude oil. I think it is the urgent need of divestment, and which starts from developing the Nigerian agriculture. We hope the pact will do more than the paper pact; the idea is something that will lead us to agriculture export.

The 19th national economic summit was the first on agriculture and it ended favouring rural farmers with the one digit interest rate. Will you describe this year as the age of agriculture bloom?

The national economic summit for the first time in 19 years was focused on agriculture, with no doubt; development is ahead of the agriculture sector. It is an encouragement for farmers and warning to Nigerian to go back to farming. It shows that the government is ready to put its feet down on agriculture. Nigerian economy was built on agriculture before discovery of oil. The summit is to show the readiness of a competitive agriculture sector.

In the farming sector, we demand grants, not loans. Giving loans to farmers does not help the farmers’ economy. For instance, a poultry farmer needs months for its produces to grow; sometimes it takes eight months. So what happens to the monthly interest that builds up? The banks do not agree with farmers not to pay monthly. There is nothing done without money. The one digit interest shows that the government has concern for us. But farmers prefer the government banks to commercial banks. Interest rate of government banks is more favourable than that of commercial banks.

Recently, the government gave out data forms to farmers, which shows we have 10 million farmers at the first stage. It shows that the farmers have record. It is a step forward. We now know the number of the farmers in the country. With that, the agriculture sector will move forward, but it is still some steps backward.

A rural farmer’s opinion is that FADAMA caters for his business while AFAN is all about meeting. Without doubt, AFAN is the mother association, but rural farmers seem more pleased with the small FADAMA cooperative gatherings?

AFAN consists of agricultural clusters and cooperatives, corporate farmers and bodies, commodity associations, professional organisations and others. Cooperatives are formed by the grassroots farmers who specialise in same commodity. The cooperative, which consists of 10 farmers, was what FADAMA project used when it came. When farmers want to access loans, the first thing bank ask for as collateral is the cooperative form.

FADAMA has been beneficial to farmers. States that abide with the purpose of the project have improved their local farmers. FADAMA III has been on for quite a time now and some of the farmers have benefited from it, especially the below-the-ladder farmers. Where farmers bring their produce out is an eyesore; it is not too conducive. This is the area FADAMA III is working on. We have gotten storage facilities like coldrooms, and roads have been graded by the FADAMA project to ease the farmers’ stress.

FADAMA project has benefited the grassroots farmer more than any other project. We are moving round to sensitise farmers that AFAN is the mother body, but they must join a commodity group before AFAN. Some of the farmers do not know that AFAN is the umbrella body. As at two, three years ago, we concluded to have 58 commodities; FADAMA is just a unit, and we have piggery, tomatoes and others. The umbrella body is AFAN, recognised by the Federal Government. FADAMA project is a complementary of what AFAN does. Some farmers do not get it right; whether FADAMA or others, the umbrella body is AFAN.

AFAN became the national platform for famers in Nigeria as a result of the successful merger of different farmers’ organisations and the subsequent adoption by the National Council on Agriculture (NCA) in March 2004. Since then, it has enhanced the skills of farmers and other related stakeholders to advocate and contribute towards improved national economy.

AFAN is sailing through; it has come a long way. We have had meetings and we are trying to acquire land in some certain areas, especially virgin lands. We have approached some stakeholders. That is the area we think we can take up from and we believe if people can have access to land, they will come into farming. Recently, we have gotten over 200 hectares in Epe for Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative (NAHCO); we are giving them for stipends. The Federal Government is giving us at 1,500 and we are giving them at same rate. People have been discouraged, but we have been going around telling them. We are moving around, encouraging peasant farmers. We have gotten good response.

 

 

 

[Daily Independent]