AFAN to adopt policies to support all-year-round farming

The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), has called for the adoption of policies that would support all-year-round farming to mitigate hunger and malnutrition in the country.

AFAN’s National President, Mr Kabri Ibrahim, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Lagos on Tuesday saying that all-year-round farming would enable the country feed its growing population.

He said that the country would overcome issues relating to food scarcity, insufficiency and insecurity by embracing all-year-round farming.

The president who observed that the present seasonal farming was old fashioned stressed the need for sustained food production to feed the nation.

Ibrahim said that the country needed to move away from the traditional rain-fed practice to all-year-farming, adding that it would aid food security.

“Nigeria can mitigate issues related to food scarcity by practising agriculture all year round and not the dependence on rainfall that dominates the practice now.

“When you do all-year-round agriculture, you don’t have any gaps and this is what happens in some of the countries that have food security.

Ibrahim said that farmers can concentrate on crops that thrives more during the harmattan and vis-a-vis the rainy season.

He called for the adoption of long-term strategies, new method and policies among the stakeholders in the private and public sector to achieve the goal.

Ibrahim listed some of the challenges mitigating all-year-round farming to include policy inconsistency, funding, poor irrigation system and lack of political will.

He also said that poor water management system posed a great threat to farming all year round.

He urged the Federal Government to improve irrigation systems, encourage mechanised farming as well as create access roads in order to increase food production and security in the country.