High demand of farm produce by processing companies and commodity traders across the country has created a lucrative business in local markets in Katsina State.
Our correspondent reports that young people are now selling their landed property and taking bank loans in order to invest in the grains market.
Since last year, the value of farm produce, ranging from maize, sorghum, beans and soybeans have gone up as a result of destruction of farmlands, insecurity and the growing demand of these grains in the country.
According to farmers who spoke with our correspondent, they have never had it better like the revenue they got in the last two production seasons.
Garba Isah, a farmer from Dandume Local Government, said many of their youths had ventured into grains market to eke out a living.
“From last year, our youths discovered the opportunities there in the produce markets. The produce brokers are scampering for capital to invest, to the extent that some are disposing their plots of land or applying for bank loan to get liquid cash for the business,” he said.
Isah added that the development had created opportunities for youths in the markets, at least twice a week.
Our correspondent discovered that many merchants and retired civil servants were stock-pilling beans against the planting season because its bag might be sold at N50,000 or more in the next six months, considering its current price of N40,000.
A bag of maize that was sold at N13,000 two years ago is now N24,000, same with sorghum and millet. Rice (paddy) is N18,000 and soybeans was sold at N37,000 per 100Kg bag.
Alhaji Sani Adamu, a long time international grains merchant, said the development had come to stay and agriculture would continue to be a goldmine and become economic mainstay in Nigeria.
He said, “If you check the statistics, before the outbreak of COVID-19 the demand for maize in this country was about 18.5 million metric tonnes. The industrial demand of sorghum too is fast growing in Nigeria as a result of rising awareness about its health benefits and the government’s policy of high import prices.”
Adamu added that the growing population of the country and the proliferation of poultry farms and other industries would continue to put pressure on the demands of farm produce in local markets.
He called on the government to clear the forests for farming activities, as they are currently serving as hideouts for bandits.
“Farmlands are becoming fragmented due to inheritance and quest for shelter. Demand has jerked up the price of farmlands in this state. N1million farm now hardly yields more than 20 bags. The government should clear the hideouts of bandits and other miscreants for food production,” he said.
According to him, farm owners now lease out their lands at exorbitant rates.
“Sometimes their only consideration is the market price of farm produce, forgetting the cost of fertiliser, pesticides, herbicides, seeds and other inputs, as well as labour. Those that have no farms are now finding it difficult to access land for food cultivation. Everything has become very expensive and unaffordable,” Adamu lamented.
