Farmers in Nigeria are compiling their losses from farmlands washed away by the widespread floods currently being witnessed in various locations across the country.
President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, an umbrella body for Nigerian farmers, Farouk Mudi, disclosed this in Abuja during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between AFAN and Tingo Plc for the provision of agricultural inputs and loans to farmers.
He said, “The floods have caused severe damage. My 14 hectares rice farm was submerged. It can produce about 1,700 bags of rice, with a worth of about N40m. Farmers are going through a lot right now. We urge the Federal Government to intervene.
“But on our level, we are taking the statistics of the affected areas and farms and we have forwarded to the Federal Government the kind of intervention and support to be made to the affected farmers.
“Also, we forwarded what the government is going to do to stop these yearly occurrences of flooding. And it is basically for the country to develop its own dams. It will use the water from its dams during the dry season.”
On the MoU, Mudi said the partnership would increase access to inputs and funding to farmers in Nigeria, as the prompt accessibility of inputs from the Federal Government’s programmes had remained an issue.
The President, Tingo Plc, Chris Cleverly, said the MoU would lead to the deployment of tractors, chemicals, seeds, sprinklers, smartphones, as well as loans to support smallholder farmers under the umbrella of AFAN.
He explained that beneficiary farmers would repay the loans with the produce from their harvests, adding that Tingo would also serve as an off-taker of harvested commodities.
