June 29, (THEWILL) – As this year’s farming season gets to the peak, a cross section of Benue farmers have decried the high level of insecurity in some communities, which is scaring them from accessing their land for cultivation of various crops apart from lack of inputs.
A respondent from Uvir council ward of Guma local government area, Apase Kwaghgba, told our correspondent, that for over four years, no farmer in the area was able to carry out a tangible work for fear of attack by suspected herdsmen, who have occupied the surrounding communities in which they are grazing their cattle.
According to him, even when Agro Rangers operators chase Fulani out, anyone that attempts to carry out farming activity is at the risk of death.
Mr Kwaghgba stated that even in the event that he found an alternative farm land, it was difficult to access fertiliser and other inputs that would boost yields during harvest.
Two civil servants, who spoke on ground of anonymity, have praised the decision of governor Samuel Ortom to grant two days off in a week for farming activities starting from June to the end of July this year.
They, however, observed that much impact would not be made, since they are going to farm without salary to buy inputs; pointing out that it would only be fruitful if the government supplies them with fertilisers on credit facility, to later deduct the money at source when the salary is due.
A Makurdi based businessman, Mr Joseph Akpa, who is a dealer in agro chemicals, said the state government has not acquired fertiliser for this year and his company has sourced the commodity from the Southern part of the country at a very high cost for sale to interested farmers.
According to Mr Akpa, a bag of NPK 20:10:10 goes for N16,500, while a bag of Urea is N21,500.
Efforts to get the views of Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr Kester Kyenge, failed as he was said to have gone out on official engagement.
However, a Senior Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, who does not want his name in print, attributed the non purchase of the commodity to paucity of funds, saying the government is monitoring the quality of fertilisers in the market, to ensure that fake ones are not sold to members of the public.
Responding to a question, the agriculture Officer, said the Benue State Tractor Hiring Agency (BENTHA), at the moment have only old tractors that are nothing to write home about and call for patience with the government, to address the imbalances.
