The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Enugu State chapter has expressed worry over the alleged lateness in the supply of inputs under the Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP).
The Chairman of the association, Mr Romanus Eze, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Wednesday that agents of the programme in the state supplied farm inputs late to them.
Eze feared the development would affect agricultural yields in the state negatively.
He said that a lot of efforts should be deployed to checkmate the looming food insecurity and rising cost of food items in the country.
He underscored the need for government at all levels to intervene with the provision of agricultural equipment, such as tractors, to boost production.
He further expressed concern over the negative impact of the herders-famers clashes in different parts of the country on food sufficiency.
Eze listed the challenges faced by Enugu farmers under the ABP to include land development, late input delivery, supply of substandard goods and herders destruction of farmlands.
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He said farmers in the state started benefitting from the programme for rice, maize and cassava cultivation during the 2019/2020 farming season.
“We benefitted in kind, by way of input provision and mechanisation only, and not in monetary aspect,” he said.
Eze said the ban on open grazing would help to put an end to the neferious destruction of farmlands.
He advocated for the decentralisation of the input supplies and distribution to regions for nearness and prompt delivery.
He also called for the inclusion of land development in the ABP package to enable farmers in settled areas to participate actively in the programme.
The Federal Government introduced the programme in 2015, under the Central Bank of Nigeria, to collaborate with companies involved in the production and processing of key agricultural commodities.
