Romanus Eze, the Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Enugu chapter, has called on government at all levels to accord full recognition to the group to enhance food security in the country.
Eze made the call in an interview in Enugu on Wednesday.
He expressed displeasure that some states had yet to recognise the association.
He said that according the association full recognition would give positive direction to government’s efforts toward food security in the country.
According to him, the security of farmers and their farms against herders attacks is paramount in the fight against food insecurity.
He advised federal and state governments to ensure their agricultural programmes go directly to the association for onward delivery to the real farmers.
“Government should be sensitive to launching farming season yearly to encourage farmers toward ensuring bountiful food production,” he said.
Eze said that farmers needed quality seeds, inputs and machinery.
“Many farmers cannot afford the high cost of land development, so government’s intervention will reduce the stress and financial burden,” he said.
Eze said that farmers needed grants or soft loan of about five per cent interest rate to maintain commercial farming yearly.
He said that although the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) initiated several interventions, some farmers still had challenges accessing them.
The AFAN chairman regretted that states in the South-East had no plan to venture into crops such as cucumber, onions, carrots, cabbage and others.
“Though individual farmers in the state are into production of the crops and doing well but they need an enabling environment to do better,” Eze said.
He said that with government’s backup, farmers in the state would engage in cocoa, cocoa nut, palm oil, potato and pepper production in large quantity.
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