As the new harvest of farm produce begins, farmers in Jingir town of Bassa LGA of Plateau State have expressed worry over the falling prices of grains in the market.
The farmers, on Sunday, said if the prices of grains failed to appreciate they would sell at losses, adding that the cost of fertiliser during this year’s farming was what was dashing their hopes as the prices of the grains continued to fall.
They explained that during this year’s farming season, they bought fertiliser between N25,000 and N30,000 per bag, lamenting that despite the increase in the price of fertiliser, a bag of maize in the market was presently N13,000 to N14,000, noting that such was not profitable.
Abubakar Bako, an elderly farmer in Amo Maikato village in the area, said, “At the moment, if the price of maize, for example, continues the way it is in the market, farmers will continue to sell at a loss. Before now we bought a bag at N10,000, but this year, we bought at between N20,000 and N30,000 per bag.”
Corroborating the cry of the farmers, a dealer at the Jingir Grains Market, Abubakar Jingir, said if the prices of grains, especially that of maize, was not increased, the farmers might be discouraged to cultivate next year because they wouldn’t get profit compared to the resources they had invested.
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