Enugu Farmers Grapple With Losses Amid Agricultural Gains

At a time when Enugu State is reaping the fruits of expansive agricultural reforms, a silent crisis is unfolding in the fields and farmsteads, a crisis not of scarcity, but of surplus. Across rural communities, heaps of cassava and bags of rice sit unsold, while farmers watch their hard-earned produce wither under the weight of plummeting prices and absent markets.

What should have been a season of abundance has instead become one of anxiety and regret for many local farmers, whose hopes were sown with seeds of promise and nurtured by state-led incentives and increased production. Now, their yields threaten to become losses.

In response, THE WHISTLER engaged experts, policymakers, and stakeholders in the state’s agricultural value chain to unravel the paradox and explore practical solutions to post-harvest losses. What emerged is a chorus of concern and a call to action highlighting the urgency for coordinated logistics, market intelligence, processing infrastructure, and policy reforms to bridge the gap between bumper harvests and meaningful income.

It’s Paradoxical, Ex-Enugu SME Boss, Agu

The immediate past Chief Executive of Enugu Small and Medium Enterprises Agency, Mr Anayo Agu, described the development as “troubling and paradoxical”.

In his words, “It’s puzzling that this information is coming from Enugu State of all places. About a year ago, a group I belonged to was researching possible challenges faced by our people and potential opportunities available to them so that we could highlight them at a summit we were planning. One of the local intelligences we were flooded with was that Enugu State was investing heavily in large-scale mechanized cassava production through farm clusters located in its three senatorial zones.

“One of the people who spoke to us claimed to be in partnership with the state to leverage a federal government intervention programme to build a major cassava processing plant at the 9th Mile Free Trade Zone to serve as an offtaker point for farmers. What happened?”

He urged the farmers to explore broader marketing channels and distribution logistics. According to him, “If this glut is localized—perhaps due to a temporary oversupply in certain parts of Enugu or the South East—then the first step is to facilitate the movement of produce to areas where demand still outpaces supply. Nigeria is a diverse market with regional disparities in food availability and demand. With some coordination, surplus cassava and garri can find profitable markets beyond the local communities.”

He also advocated government offtake arrangements as a strategic intervention. He said, “State and federal governments can mop up the excess supply and channel it into structured agro-processing initiatives. Cassava is a highly versatile crop, and can be converted into garri, flour, starch, ethanol, animal feed, and industrial raw materials.

” These derivatives have both domestic and export demand. A well-designed offtake and processing strategy will ensure price stabilization, reduce post-harvest losses, and guarantee farmers a minimum return on investment. This approach has worked in other commodity markets, such as tomatoes and grains.”

He also recommended exploration of export opportunities through structured support. According to him, “There is growing international demand for cassava derivatives, especially garri, flour, starch, and ethanol. These products are used in the food, beverage, textile, and pharmaceutical industries.

“Nigeria has a comparative advantage that is yet to be fully exploited. The Ministry of Agriculture, working with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and international trade facilitators, should help farmers and processors to meet export standards and access markets across Africa (under AfCFTA), the Caribbean, Europe, and parts of Asia. This is a long-term solution that requires investment in standards, traceability, and quality control.”

Agu also made a case for psychosocial support for farmers. He said the state government should engage directly with affected farmers because “these farmers operate at subsistence levels and are extremely vulnerable to shocks”. He argued that the turnaround in their investments might force them to abandon farming.

“A combination of financial support, honest communication, and practical short-term measures can help sustain morale. This also provides an opportunity for government and civil society to gather data, understand the root causes of the glut, and co-create a sustainable response strategy,” he said.

He concluded that the situation was “symptomatic of deeper structural issues, such as poor storage infrastructure, weak value chain integration, lack of market intelligence, and absence of coordinated supply-demand planning”. He added that, “It is not the fault of the farmer. If we fail to respond systemically, the apathy will spread—not just among cassava farmers but across the agricultural sector. We cannot afford such a disengagement.”

What Enugu State Government Should Do—NCCIMA DG, Nnadi

The Director General of Nsukka Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, Mr Uchenna Nnadi, tasked the state government to adopt proactive measures to cushion the impacts of the losses on her farmers.

He said, “The state government should support household farming with subsidised inputs, access to credit and protect it from the vagaries of price volatities whether locally or internationally induced. It should encourage export of agro-products through administrative and market logistics, as well as incentivize scaling of farming – commercial farming without hurting small scale farming.”

He said saving the fortunes of local farmers was key to sustainable development of any nation. According to him, “Agriculture is the foundation of socio-economic development and growth of any society. It does not matter whether one is talking about food or cash crops. Any society that misses appropriate reformation and transformation of its agriculture hardly develops.

“Its importance hinges on the fact that agriculture provides food security, raw materials for processing and manufacturing industries, employment for the rural dwellers, foreign exchange earnings, and the means of closing the urban-rural income inequality gap.”

He, therefore, submitted that no society desirous of development and growth would leave its agriculture to default.

In his view, “Nigeria and its subnational entities have fallen behind after the initial productive progress by Nigeria’s regional governments in the 1950s and 1960s. It is such that despite the huge arable land and labour, Nigeria now imports food and cash crops in alarming scale. Nor has Nigeria made any significant progress in processing our raw agro-products. Nigeria has also added gross insecurity of farmers and farmlands in the many obstacles agriculture.”

He advised the government of Enugu State to deploy appropriate tools to capture real-time data about the state agro-potentials.

In his words, “Based on the data, the state should determine our comparative and competitive advantages at community and local government area levels. It should carry out gap analysis to determine the right government supports in specific areas.

“Remember that there was once an integrated cassava farm at Agụibeji in Igbo-Eze North LGA. There was also a farm settlement at Adani in Uzo-Uwani LGA with numerous informal farm settlements across the state. Enugu State can at least feed Eastern Nigeria and power our industries with raw materials.”

The Crash Will Continue, Says Agric Commissioner, Ubru

The Commissioner of Agriculture, Enugu State, Hon Patrick Ubru, told THE WHISTLER on Wednesday that the crash was a manifestation of the state government’s agricultural initiatives towards food security.

Ubru stated that, “First is to produce to meet the consumption needs of Enugu people. If prices of food items are crashing, it is a result of what the governor did last year by giving out free and subsidised farm inputs, such as fertilisers, herbicides, high-breed cassava species. Our focus then will be to process these products. That is why we are bringing in foreign investors to the state.

“The aim is to harness these food products, and process them for exports. We just signed an agreement with a company to establish a cassava chips processing industry. You might have noticed that the prices of cassava came down because we aggressively went into cassava production across the state. We launched breeds of cassava that give higher yields. Also more people returned to farming.

“We also went from institutions to institutions teaching people what is tagged “operation back to farm”. Most people now produce what they eat. All these things are bound to crash food prices. It is a manifestation of good leadership.”

On the plans for storage facilities in the state, Ubru said, “In all our farm estates, it is expected that there will be warehouses and central silos. It is a gradual thing. Food prices will crash more by the time half of the farm estates begin operations.”

He advised rural farmers to key into various post-harvest programmes of the state. Quoting him, “We have specialised training programmes for these farmers to add values to their produce. These trainings also encompass managing post-harvest losses. Our doors are open to farmers.”

FG Should Restrict Food Importation—Enugu farmer

A farmer, Cyprain Ajah, from Okpanku in Aninri LGA, had yesterday told this medium that he cultivated rice and cassava in commercial quantities, but the crash in their prices had adversely affected his investments.

According to him, “By this time last year, a 50kg bag of rice was sold at N55, 000. This year, it is N35, 000. The same time last year, a 100kg bag of rice was around N120, 000. This year, it is N67, 000. For garri, ten cups of garri last year were sold for N2,000. This year, twenty cups of garri go for N2,000.

“In terms of labour, the daily wage for cultivation last year was N3,000; this year, it is N6,000. Daily clearing of weeds this year is N4,000 as against last year’s N1, 500. The cost of herbicides this year is far higher than that of last year. Fertilisers are also expensive. Having spent all these, one had expected profits. But the reverse has become the case. FG should restrict food importation into Nigeria to save local farmers.”

Enugu Farmers Grapple With Losses Amid Agricultural Gains is first published on The Whistler Newspaper