The Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr Roland Brown, on Friday decried the lack of organised markets for farm produce.
Brown told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt that organised commercial markets are the “soul” of agriculture all over the world.
“We want commercial buyers of farm produce that can buy in bulk and pay farmers in bulk.
“If there is no market, agric produce will not “scale up, and there will be market glut,” he said.
Brown said such market glut would discourage farmers from farming, or reduce the size of their farms.
He said that the way out of the problem was for the Federal Government to “revitalise” produce marketing Boards, as they were in the 1960’s.
According to the association chairman, farmers could be taking risk, taking loans from commercial banks on high interest rate, when they are not sure of the market prices of farm produce.
“We need to feed our population without importing foodstuffs,” he said.
Brown said that government should take appropriate security measures to check the menace of herders and farmers’ clashes, to ensure food sufficiency and food security.
He described the clashes as “time bomb” that could explode tomorrow, which should not be allowed.
The chairman advised cattle owners to buy land and keep their animals, rather than move them about pasturing.
He, however, noted that South-South region lacked enough land to farm, let alone selling.
