“We have been interviewed several times by the media over the challenges we face as farmers, but the government is not coming to our aid” – Farmer cries out
Farmlife Magazine, recently paid an interactive visit to smallholder farmers in Awowo farming community close to Abeokuta, Ogun State, to interact with smallholder farmers and their farming activities at the grassroots, the prospects and the challenges they face. Here, we met Pastor Onjefu Philemon, a smallholder farmer and owner of Onjefu Fresh Farm Ventures, who is into cassava, yam, and beans cultivation.
“Currently, I just finished weeding one acre of beans at my farm and, by God’s grace, by tomorrow, I’ll be applying a pest control chemical to keep away the pests from the beans.” He said. When asked about those that patronize his farm produce, he said, “We take our farm produce to the market, and the closest market according to him is the Waasimi and other markets, which they send their produce for sale.”
He, however, lamented the poor rainfall this year, especially in August, when they planted two acres of corn and beans and couldn’t germinate, leading to losses. “We have to repeat that in September, so the rain so far this year has been fair enough. Aside from the August loss, which was disheartening, we are currently harvesting yams to sell, while we are still waiting for the cassava we planted to mature. We have one acre of corn now, fresh corn, and it’s doing well; by the end of this October, the corn will be ready for harvest.” He said.
On the challenges farmers in the community face, he said, “They have been interviewing us like this many times, and we haven’t seen their response. We have a lot of challenges, a lot of challenges. Like some of us, we need fertilizer, and fertilizer is very expensive. NPK is 60,000 per bag, the fertilizer which we used to buy for 6,000 Naira.”
On getting assistance from farmers’ cooperatives and associations, he said, “They don’t assist us. I was a member of a farmers’ association about four years ago, but I don’t want to waste my time going there. Instead, I’ll be on my farm working because the benefit of the association is defeated.” When asked if he would consider crop rotation as part of his plans for the next planting season, he said, “Yes, we do crop rotation here to enable the soil to fertilize and for good production. So when we plant corn, we don’t repeat it again. The acre we use for corn, we now use it for cassava, and we are now preparing for two acres of yam now. By this month, we’ll start the heaping, and then the planting will commence around December, January, February, and March.”
On plans to introduce irrigation farming, he said, “You know, it’s expensive, though I’ve been planning for two acres now for irrigation, but it’s very expensive to have it, but I’m still thinking about it.” On the issue of security on the farm, vis-a-vis the herdsmen issue, he said, “There are herdsmen here too, but they don’t invade our farms; they don’t destroy our farms, and we have a good relationship with them. Some of them are living with us here. We have a good relationship with them.”
When asked why there are unresolved herdsmen-farmers crises in Benue and other parts of the North, Pastor Philemon believes it’s political. “I believe it’s political because Fulanis don’t normally enter farms to spoil farms. I don’t know who’s sponsoring that kind of activity, but it’s between them and God, because the Bible says, ‘Whatever a man sows, he will reap.’ Whether you are ignorant or not, you will reap it.”
Farmlife Magazine and Farmlive TV appreciate the contributions of Pastor Onjefu Philemon and so many other farmers out there contributing to food security in Nigeria. We appreciate them for their consistency, for tilling the soil, tilling the ground so that Nigerians can feed.
