Dear Editor,
Nigeria’s agricultural sector stands at a critical juncture. Despite citizens’ eagerness to engage in farming, daunting challenges persist, with insecurity casting a dark shadow over rural communities. Farming has become a life sentence of fear and vulnerability for many. However, a clear path to prosperity exists: strategic expansion of agricultural spaces coupled with aggressive adoption of modern technology.
Technology can revolutionize farms, attracting significant foreign investment, engaging youth, and fostering agri-entrepreneurs. It improves communication, streamlines marketing, and optimizes production. Crucially, technology facilitates rapid dissemination of essential information to farmers through effective extension services.
The government’s role in this transformation is paramount. Streamlined policies can encourage mechanization, attract investment, and empower farmers to innovate. We must move beyond scattered, crude farming practices, embracing sophisticated machinery and extensive land coverage to increase yields.
Insecurity has devastating effects: farmers are disfigured, murdered, and lose ancestral homes, farm products, and barns to criminal elements. Cattle grazing deliberately destroys crops, leading to food shortages and exorbitant prices. Farmers are forced to pay levies to bandits for access to their own resources, impacting operations and putting lives at risk.
To address these concerns, the government and stakeholders must work together to expand financial mechanisms to support peasant farmers in large-scale land coverage, facilitate land acquisition, and prioritize farmer protection through comprehensive security measures. Investing in modern farming tools and inputs, ensuring their accessibility and affordability, is also crucial. Strengthening extension services and technology transfer to farmers, fostering private sector partnerships, and implementing clear master plans for efficient input distribution and subsidized rates can help drive progress.
The Nigerian leadership must work decisively to mitigate these issues. Concerted efforts to expand agricultural spaces, integrate modern technology, and secure farmlands can ensure food security, economic growth, and dignity for every Nigerian farmer.
Sincerely,
Michael Adedotun Oke
Founder, Michael Adedotun Oke Foundation (MAOF) maof2020@gmail.com
