The chairman of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Zaria branch, has identified the activities of middlemen as the major obstacle that the Buhari- administration needs to address to achieve the rice sufficiency drive.

Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust, Muhammad Lawal Jibril said farmers appreciate the efforts of the administration to uplift the capacity of farmers, but it needs to check exploitation of farmers by some leaders of RIFAN

He added; “we sensitised our members based on what the government promised. However, some middlemen are now exploiting farmers. The initial arrangement was that farmers would be given money based on their capacity. They now changed the money to supply of farm implements. We don’t have problem with that, but with the prices of what they are giving.

“For example, the pumping machine they are giving at N43,000 is sold at the market at the rate of N27,000. Same thing goes for fertilizer.

The market price of NPK 15:15:15 is N5,500, but the price they are giving at association level is N7,500.”

Jibril said most farmers are collecting the inputs blindly without the association disclosing the actual price to them. This, according to him, forces them to draw the attention of government.

Yobe NACCIMA urges farmers, businessmen to register for opportunities

The President, of the Yobe State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, (NACCIMA), Alhaji Jingiri Abubakar, has called on farmers, businessmen and industrialists to register with the chamber to access more opportunities.

Jingiri, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Northern States Chamber of Commerce stated this during a week-long tour at the 17 local government areas of the state

He said the week-long tour was to sensitize on the importance of the need for the farmers, industrialists and businessmen to join the chamber, “In the past there were a lot of opportunities in which you can tap, but due to nonexistence of the chamber in the state, Yobe citizens and residents could not access them”.

He said revolving loans that are targeted for farmers and business owners has not been utilized in the past hence advised them to form the chamber at local government levels for more opportunities.

“By joining the chamber, you will recover what you have missed and benefit from more opportunities, as the saying goes, ‘united we stand, divided we fall'”, he said.

Jingiri further revealed that the chamber will in future organize seminars, workshops and training programmes for its members to be able to achieve excellence in the business landscape and build an institution where professionalism, efficiency and creativity are deployed to create wealth for the members.

The team also paid courtesy visit to traditional rulers in the various local government to help explain their missions to their subjects in the interest of economic development of the state.