Former leader of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Enugu State and renowned farmer, Comrade Fidelis Edeh, warned politicians on Wednesday against politicising agricultural palliatives, which he said was detrimental to food security in the country.
According to Edeh, various agro-interventions, such as fertiliser and implement distributions, are being shared through political leanings.
He said the system so far had not identified genuine farmers for empowerment.
Quoting him, “The challenge is not identifying the real farmers. What we have are political farmers who have no business in farming. Genuine farmers hardly benefit from such interventions because the first question is usually if they are members of certain political parties.
“When such palliatives are sent at the ward levels, the people in charge are still councillors who usually identify the beneficiaries through political parties.
“Then even those that eventually get the palliatives are given quantities like two cups of fertiliser that can’t take them anywhere in food production.”
He called for the domestication of agriculture at local government levels, while federal and state agencies embarked on research and counterpart funding.
In his words, “Fadama I, II, and II agro-schemes had challenges because some state governments refused to pay their counterpart funding.
“Meanwhile, interventions differ. Some need access roads, some security and implements. LGAs should identify these special needs and coordinate their transmission to the grass-roots farmers on behalf of both the state and FG.
“But we are yet to transition from the traditional mode of farming. We should adopt the German agro-structure where the central government, state and LGAs synergise.
“How does a local farmer benefit from research when we don’t have extension officers at agricultural ministries?”
