Food Security: Vegetable Farmers Task Government On Flooding

The President, Vegetable Farmers Association Ojo area of Lagos State, Mrs Mariam Ali, has appealed to the state government to tackle flooding in the area to ensure food security in Lagos State, Southwestern, Nigeria.

Ali made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Thursday in Lagos.

It was recalled that in 2022, 676,945 farmlands were destroyed as a result of flooding as stated by the 2023 performance scorecard presented by the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Management, Sadiya Farouq. Reports said.

She described flood as a great challenge to food production and self-sufficiency.

Ali lamented that a lot of farms had been flooded this year due to heavy rain, adding that a lot of farmers in the area were affected.

She said that 65 per cent of farmers in the area practice organic farming while the remaining 35 per cent practice inorganic stressing that too much water destroys vegetables.

Ali said farmers in the area need storage facility to preserve their produce and prevent food wastage.

“Our major challenge this year is flooding. The rain did not allow us to plant well this year, so we want the government to assist us to tackle flooding in our area.

“The commissioner for agriculture is trying for us. She is a good woman because we have benefited from some of the state government interventions where they gave us machine.

“The machine is not enough. They should come to our aid by tackling flood; provide transportation, storage facilities, improved seedlings, and other agricultural services that can boost food production.

“Whenever it rains, the floods will wash away our farm produce,” she said.

She urged Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to look into the plight of vegetable farmers by providing more funding and intervention programmes in the state.

Ali urged the state government to establish banks where farmers could purchase seedlings without much stress in various local government areas.

“We need more fertilizer, pesticides, and other chemicals for farming because our inorganic farmers used insecticide. We also need a central place like a wholesale market where we can display our produce and sell to consumers.

“We don’t have a designated place where we buy seed, and this is a big challenge to us.

“Most of these seedlings that we plant are not from a good source like ‘Ewedu’, between three days of planting; it will spoil because it will not germinate,’’ she said.

Ali said over 65 per cent of farmers in the area practice organic while others practice inorganic.

“The reason why we practice the organic is because some people use it for medicinal purposes, but the inorganic vegetable is for those that want to consume.

“Lack of storage system brings losses to a lot of our farmers, and this is not good for us.

“Last month, I had vegetable that I was supposed to sell N700 each, but because of lack of storage, I ended up selling it for N200 each.

“This is shortage. We need full storage, we don’t mind paying and we need transportation to move our produce from the farm to the market.

“Our farmers are ready to pay. If the government supports us with it or we get it through hire purchase, we will pay back,” she said.

NAN/Shakirat Sadiq