The Taraba State chairman of the Rice Farmers Association (RIFAN), Tanko Bobbo Andami, has said that farming activities will decline significantly this season because of high cost of production, coupled with the fallen price of farm produce.
He told Weekend Trust that farmers that engaged in dry season farming this year suffered losses and were unable to recover what they invested.
He said the cost of production was much higher compared to previous years, and the crash in the prices of paddy rice and maize witnessed this year had resulted in the loss of millions of naira by farmers.
According to him, in previous years, farmers bought litres of petrol at N350, but this year, they bought the same quantity above N1,500.
He said the cost of fertiliser, chemicals, tractor hiring and labour tripled, but after the harvest, the price of paddy rice came down from N50,000 to N33 000 in the state.
He expressed disappointment over the failure of state and the federal government to assist farmers in land preparation and provision of seeds at subsidised rates.
Bobbo Andami explained that the experience of this year’s dry season farming was a key factor that would force many farmers away from wet season farming because many have no capital.
He attributed the fall in the prices of paddy rice and maize to importation of foreign rice and maize into the country.
The RIFAN chairman maintained that food production would decline seriously, especially in the North because smallholder farmers would not have capital to invest in their farms because of poor price produce.
(Daily Trust)
