ActionAid, others raise concern over palliatives for smallholder farmers


ActionAids Nigeria and other members of civil society and non-government agricultural stakeholders, has expressed concern regarding recent efforts of the federal and state governments to strengthen the economy following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
Whioe appreciating the federal government’s guidelines for the movement of agricultural produce to curtail food shortages and ensure effective 2020 crop production, the coalition of CSOs noted goverent’s silence on how smallholder farmers who have already suffered losses can be compensated.
The group in a letter by Voices of Food Security (VFS) to the Special task force on COVID 19 and signed by the Chairman, and convener, Right to Food Group, Professor G. B. Ayoola, and endorsed by All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), the Association of Small-Scale Agro-Producers in Nigeria.

(ASSAPIN), Women Farmers’ Association, Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria. (RIFAN), said these palliative and recovery windows may well work for the manufacturing and other sectors, but that they do not adequately cover the needs of the sectors’ stakeholders and at the same time meet the needs of smallholder farmers who presently face the challenge of feeding the nation during the lockdown and immediately afterwards.
The stakeholders observed that agriculture has been termed a key sector for years, but none of the relief efforts explicitly take note of the issues facing sector stakeholders. According to them, “farmers associations are not strictly termed as SMEs, so will likely not be eligible for SME financing from the CBN. Yet, these funds are very much needed.”


It said farmers, already hampered by challenges of access to market and the lowest levels of access to finance of any key sector in normal times, now find it even more difficult to sell their harvests in a period marked by lockdowns in many States, as it was affecting incomes of local farmers, and driving more people into poverty
They added that the lockdown and resulting police intimidation was affecting farmers ability to access inputs, especially in states far away from ports where trailers have to travel long distances in order to reach farmers especially in the rainy season planting period.


They therefore call on the Federal and State-level Ministries as well as the CBN to  work with farmers and processors throughout the Country to use this opportunity to better improve working relationships with farmers. Saying too often, agricultural support does not reach “real farmers” and this reality cannot hold if we are to ensure food security in Nigeria
“Small household grants should be extended to poor farmers at scale to enable them stay afloat in this uncertain period, and effort should be made to ensure that these reach real male and female farmers
“Extend access to finance facilities to ensure that farmer cooperatives and processing companies are able to procure technologies and inputs that will make their businesses grow.


“Generate more demand for farm products and open more market channels for movement of food from rural areas to cities,” the stakeholders recommended.
It however said, farmers recognize that transparency and good governance benefits us all, hence the government should work with civil society to ensure transparency in the distribution of all stimulus funding to be provided.
“This is because the efficacy of distribution to all sectors if done well will help ensure that there is money in the hands of the average Nigerian and help ensure that masses of people are not unemployed. As food producers, we know that more money in the hands of more Nigerians will mean more access to food for all,” it said.

Leave a Reply