Luka Osagie is the chairman Association of Yam Farmers, Edo State chapter. In this interview, he speaks on why government should assist yam farmers with grants to ensure food security.
What is responsible for the present high cost of yam?
Most farmers, because of hunger, have sold their seed yams meant for planting, and started eating the remaining ones because of hunger. They couldn’t buy rice or beans so those who have yam started eating them so as not to die of hunger. Since this administration came in, prices of things have been escalating. If government can assist farmers, they can buy seedling for planting.
In what ways can government assist yam farmers?
What the farmers need is assistance from government using the right channel. If government can assist financially or if they don’t want to give cash, they can give seedlings, fertilizers, chemicals to weed and these are the basic things we need for farming. Chemical is very expensive now. It is over N50,000 and we used to buy it less than N20,000.
So, if they can assist yam farmer especially in the area of seedlings, it would help. For instance, if government can give 500 seedlings to each farmer in the state, next season, that 500 can produce over 1500 seedling for the next planting season after the farmer had removed the one for eating and others. If government can do this, there will be food sufficiency and price will reduce. But as long as the farmers are the ones doing everything, prices will continue to go up.
Are you saying if government is assisting the farmer with grant, prices will reduce?
Yes. Reducing hunger is not all about giving palliatives because it won’t get to everybody but if you give grant to farmers, in terms of input, there will be enough food to feed the nation and the price will reduce. If you give grant to yam or rice farmers, they will form cooperatives to be able to monitor beneficiaries and after production, they can monitor them to be able to fix the price.
How much does it take to cultivate one hectare?
In an acre, you can plant between 1,200 or 1,500 seedlings but that same land can also take 2,000 to 3,000 seedlings depending on the spacing. Now, let’s say 1,500 in one acre, in two acres you get 3,000 and in the other half acre you get N1,000, so that means in one hectare you get 4,000 to 5,000 seedlings per hectare.
Last year, a yam seedling was N300 and now, it is N500. If you multiply 5,000 by N500, that is N2.5 million per hectare. Now, a tuber of yam costs between N3,000 and N4,000 and in the 5,000 seedlings, even if you sell it at N1,000, you have gotten your money and you will still have seedlings for planting. So, there is no shortage in yam farming, the only expenses are in hiring of labourers, housing, feeding them and buying expensive chemicals, among others.
How do farmers get money to plant during farming season?
We borrow to plant and to sustain our selves before harvest and when we harvest, we sell to pay back the money that we borrowed. This is why farmers remain where they are. We are not supposed to borrow to plant or use our money to farm. Farmers are supposed to invest their money and use the investment as security to guarantee what government gives us as grant. This is what happens in civilized world. Farmers there received grants, they invest their money in buildings and other things so that in return, they use them as collateral to secure what they are taking as grant. Government knows the right thing to do but they don’t want to do it. Government can give farmers loans and moratorium of seven years to pay back. These are the challenges farmers are facing that they can’t boast of buying cars at the end of the year apart from few persons.
How can one make money in yam farming?
If you want to make money in farming, you go into rice farming, even in yam, how many people can boast of one hectare of yam farm? The most they can do is one acre because of the challenges. Now, there are no sticks in the bush to stake yam; we have to buy bamboo and use trucks to bring them to the farm at a high cost. So, we are actually facing a lot of challenges and if the government can call for a round table to discuss how to help the farmers, it will be good for the nation.
How can they reach the farmers?
They can get all the stakeholders together. In my area Ugbogiri and its environs, their major crops are cassava and yam and every market day, about three truckloads of cassava leave the area to Lagos and other parts of the country. You can have a cluster in one place and monitor their activities when you give them money but unfortunately, they don’t give money to the right farmers.
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