By Maria Famakinwa

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Nigerians especially those in the South-West states have continue to react to the recent blockade of food supplies by the Northerners to the region calling on South-West Governors to invest massively in agriculture to make it attractive to the youth.
Many who spoke with The Hope see it as a development that will work to the advantage of the South by compelling them to utilise opportunities they had in agriculture. Though, an official of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuffs and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN) Awwalu Aliyu, said that the decision not to supply food to the South was not to starve Southerners but to protest attacks on their members during the #EndSARS protest and the recent Shasha market crisis in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
Reacting to the development, The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, called on the six governors of the South-West States to inject at least 15 percent of their annual budget into agriculture. Adams added that such allocation would make huge impact on sustainable food production in the region. He urged the six State governments in the South-West zone to adopt the Rwanda model by engaging expertise in their agricultural sectors.
He said, “Investment in agriculture will provide employment, enhance IGR, provide food security, reduce urban congestion and enlarge the coast for participatory, modernised agriculture. The recent food crisis was a clarion call to the South-West stakeholders, including security groups to provide necessary security for farmers in order to produce enough agricultural produces.”
Similarly, the spokesman of Yoruba socio-cultural Organisation, Afenifere, Mr Yinka Odumakin, said that the South-West region can conveniently feed itself without dependence on any other region. He added that there was urgent need to go back to the farm in the geo-political zone. Odumakin described the North’s blockade of foodstuffs to the South as a challenge to the South-West which had made its IGR from agriculture before independence.
In his submission, Ondo State President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (ALFAN), who doubles as the Chairman of Farmers Congress, Mr Abayomi Monilari, said that the Northerners’ decision should not be seen as a challenge but an encouragement to the South-Westerners. He recommended that adequate security be provided for farmers and encouragement of cluster farming among farmers including the development of enhancement of animal husbandry in the Western region.
Mr Rilwan Orelope, a farmer at Ogbese in Akure North Local Government area of Ondo State who grow crops such as pepper, tomatoes and yams, lamented that the South-West has relaxed in growing the crops but depend on those brought from the North. “But the recent blockade of foodstuffs from the north will ginger farmers to be proactive and grow more tomatoes, pepper and other foodstuffs to guide against scarcity in the future.
“The belief of the Northerners is that the people of the South-West cannot survive without them supplying foodstuffs and more of this blockade will still be experienced which is the more reason we should embrace farming. People everywhere are complaining of hunger despite our fertile land. Let us rise to the challenge of hunger as if we are fighting a war. There are so many land that can be used for farming. Government on his own should do everything at can to provide security for farmers across the state because incessant attack on farmers by herders also discourage many from farming, “ he said.
Sharing a similar sentiment, a cassava farmer, Mr Iyiola Okeowo, who disclosed that many farmers in the region were not encouraged to farm due to the activities of herders said that some farmers who were his friends within and outside the state have been victims of attacks while working on their farms. His words,” Different attacks on farmers in the South-West by herders are discouraging farming. Farmers in the region have persistently come under attacks by armed herders grazing their cattle on farmlands. The scale of violence has not only caused the death of many farmers but also led to massive destruction of farm produce worth millions of naira.
“I know of a young man who took to farming because government advised Nigerians to do so. He borrowed money from money lending organisation and invested it in planting cucumber and tomatoes in Oda town area of Akure South. While still expecting to harvest his crops, he wept Profusely when he got to his farm and discovered that cows had eaten what he planted. This happened in 2019, up till now, the man is still looking for money to pay his debt. With good support from the government in term of finance and security, effective farming in the south can guarantee food sufficiency.”
Also, a peasant farmer in Ilara-Mokin in the Ifedore Local Government area of Ondo State, Mr Olalekan Alaba, said that farmers in the South-West can grow crops that can sustain the region population without relying on the northern farmers. The man while calling on government to show more commitment to farming and assist farmers in term of provision of fertiliser, seeds and other aids said, “our land is more fertile than that of the North but we lack commitment to farming in the South.
“Governments in the South-West states should help farmers as their Northern counterparts. Many farmers find it hard to get loans. Our fore-fathers were farmers and we were living fine before northerners started bringing foodstuffs to us. This is the time to prove to them that we are not lazy as they thought. Gone are the days when farming were left for the illiterates, many educated Nigerians today are big time farmers and are surviving through farming.
Governments in the region should provide enough security for farmers and support farmers financially, doing this will send a strong message to the northerners that we can feed ourselves without them. We are blessed with good weather and soil in the South-West unlike in the North that the weather is not as good as ours. Let the South-West Governors respond swiftly and seek a better approach to enhance both small and large scale farming across the region.”