Just like their counterparts in the South-west region of Nigeria, stakeholders in the agricultural sector in the South-east have also advocated appropriate government policies to protect farmers from the exploitation of off-takers otherwise called middlemen in the food value chain.
They said the excesses of these people should be checked if the country’s aim of food security is to be achieved.
In Abia state, for instance, Mr Uzoma Nwogwugwu, president, Apex of Farmers Co-operative Societies Limited said government’s inability to assist farmers with farm inputs had exposed them to the vagaries of middlemen.
Nwogwugwu said the three tiers of governments had not done enough in terms of policies and support to protect the interest of farmers, therefore government should primarily subsidise farm inputs and other materials to enable farmers record good harvest with appropriate pricing that would be mutually acceptable to them and off-takers.
He underscored the need for farmers to always enter into mutual agreement with off-takers over quantity and value ahead of the harvest so that middlemen would not take undue advantage of them.
“Most often, it is discouraging when the products are eventually rejected by off-takers and the farmer ultimately loses simply because the terms were not clearly spelt out at the initial stage.”
Mrs Ezinne Otuka, the Abia Project Coordinator of FADAMA, said plans were being made by the state government to introduce post-harvest management policy to protect farmers and minimise post-harvest losses.
Otuka said the policy would help to fast-track the establishment of storage facilities for the preservation of farm produce, especially during a period of glut.
She said that the policy would promote better off-taking of farm produce and also help in no small measures towards the realisation of food security in the country.
“We have trained a good number of farmers in Abia to do things differently, which entails reaching a mutually beneficial agreement with off-takers.
“The off-takers say they will provide agro products and agree with farmers on the cost they will purchase their farm produce.”
Also in Ebonyi, private rice millers decried what they called the state government’s monopoly of off-taking business in the state.
They said that government’s dominance in off-taking negated the essence of food value chain in the economy.
According to them, they were getting little or no paddy from rice farmers because government agencies always acted as off-takers to the farmers.
Although rice remains the major food commodity in Ebonyi, other food items, including cassava and yam are also affected by the activities of off-takers.
Chief Julian Oke, manager, Jok Integrated Agricultural Ventures, in Ikwo local government area said farmers preferred to sell their paddy rice to government off-takers because they buy at higher rates and in bulk.
Oke said, “Government agencies pay in advance for the rice even before harvest and this makes the farmers not to look our way at all.
“When they sell to us, they do so at exorbitant prices and when we bargain, they say that government agencies are ready and willing to buy.”
Mrs Rose Igwe, a private rice miller in Ishielu LGA, regretted the absence of adequate storage facilities for farm produce in the state.
“Most farmers want to sell their paddy immediately they are harvested because when they are not properly stored, they either depreciate in quality or value,” Igwe said.
She, therefore, called for the establishment of silos and other modern storage facilities that could make it easy for farmers to preserve enough quantity of their harvest for both the government and private off-takers.
Mr Jones Idam, an extension worker with Afikpo North LGA, said farmers should be absolved from blame for disposing off their produce through government off-takers.
According to Idam, “Most of these farmers receive incentives such as seeds, credit facilities, grants, fertilisers, pesticides, among others, from the government and it is natural that they want to appreciate such gestures.”
He said that middlemen remained cardinal players in the food value chain and insisted that emphasis should be on ways to assist farmers to produce enough food and minimise the excesses of the middlemen.
Chief Moses Nome, the commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, however, said government did not monopolise the off-taking business in the state.
“We have created an enabling environment for private off-takers to thrive by encouraging all-season farming, establishment of three modern rice mills, among others.
“Private investment is a key component of any prosperous economy and Ebonyi state government will continue to give it the leverage to thrive,” Nome said.
In Awka, Mr Afam Mbanefo, the commissioner for agriculture mechanisation, processing and export, described the role of middlemen as key in food value chain.
Mbanefo said farmers and off-takers complement each other in the food value chain, adding that it would be disservice to the sector to think about eliminating off-takers.
He said the three zones in the state had post-harvest centres called Appreciation Centres for off-takers to come and purchase produce.
He said the activities of off-takers had helped to provide straight up profits and ready market for farmers, thereby reducing the stress often associated with the harvest period.
“The off-takers’ presence reassures farmers of market for their farm produce, so they play a vital role in the food value chain,” Mbanefo.
He, however, said that the only major setback from the farmer-middlemen relationship was its negative effect on mechanised farming.
He therefore advised government to initiate policies that would encourage agricultural agencies to engage farmers in exploring ways of handling farm produce in the overall interest of farmers, off-takers and nation’s economy.
Mr Christian Beluchukwu, a cassava farmer, said the state government’s domination of produce off-taking in the state had negative implication on the food value chain.
Beluchukwu noted that although off-takers play important role in the food value chain, their activities should be regulated by relevant government agencies.
Mrs Ngozi Anagor, a farmer said she prefers to sell her farm produce to government agencies because they buy at a higher rate than private off-takers.
Mrs Amaka Okwe, a pepper farmer, said inadequate storage facilities made the role of off-takers paramount in the food value chain.
According to her, the ultimate interest of every farmer is to sell his produce immediately they are harvested because some produce could depreciate in quality or value, if not properly stored.
Okwe therefore called for the establishment of silos and other storage facilities that could help farmers to store enough quantity of their harvests.
She said, “silos will help to ensure that farm produce is available all year round for both the government and private off-takers.”
Mr Sochima Okafor, an extension officer in the state Ministry of Agriculture, said most farmers receive incentives from the government, adding that it is only fair they yield to government’s terms.
He described middlemen as critical players in the food value chain, pointing out that they provide necessary assistance to farmers to engage in mass production.
In Imo state, stakeholders said off-takers could be blamed for the outrageous pricing of farm produce in the state as prices of goods were often predetermined by them.
A fruit vendor, Ms Ogechi Egbujor, blamed high cost of fruits on off-takers who, according to her, buy directly from the farmers at cheaper rate and sell at higher rate to the retailers and consumers.
She said farmers in their desperation to sell their produce while still fresh often sold them off at give-away prices to bulk buyers.
Egbujor noted that while the produce might be cheap from source, the difficulties and cost of transportation contributed to the high cost of the goods to the retailers.
A farmer, Mr Chinedu Ibekwe, said disposing their produce without the off-takers sometimes prove difficult, so, due to the quantity of produce harvested, selling them directly to retailers usually pose some difficulties because most retailers rely on the middlemen.
He said that while most retailers could not afford to travel to rural markets to buy at cheaper rates because of cost of transportation, most farmers also detest taking their produce to cities, hence the relevance of middlemen.
In Enugu State, Mr Chukwuma Ozor, an agriculture expert, said the role of middlemen in the food value chain is indispensable in the effort to achieve food sufficiency in the country.
Ozor, a director in the Ministry of Agriculture said the state government policies in the sector places high premium on off-takers because most farmers are poor and rely on the off-takers for their farm inputs and other ancillary needs.
He described the middlemen as strategic due to government’s withdrawal from such roles.
Ozor regretted that farmers had become victims of failed policies of governments at all levels in the country.
“Farmers need money to buy inputs and also need the assistance of the middlemen to sell their produce and also access bank facility.”
He however, said that the middlemen had not played the expected role in the implementation of federal government’s policy in the sector.
NAN
