Rivers women ready to crash food prices by 50% but beg for mechanisation

Women farmers in Rivers say they are ready to crash food prices by 50 percent if they receive adequate support for farm implements and mechanisation.

This is as the state government has vowed not to deal with those it calls ‘portfolio farmers’, saying their already packaged agric support was for real farmers.

The women farmers under the aegis of Women in Farming and Agro-Allied Support Network (WIFAASN), who paid a solidarity visit to the Government House, Port Harcourt, told the governor to support mechanisation.

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Glory Coker, national coordinator of WIFAASN, said their visit was to intimate the governor on their desire to go into mechanised farming to ensure food sufficiency in the State.

She said the move would in no small measure reduce the cost of living experienced in the State, and solicited government assistance to achieve set goals.

She said, “We are already farmers, but we want to go into mechanised farming in the State to make sure that if an egg is N5,000 in the market, we want to bring it down to N2,500. If garri is N5,000 in the market, we want to bring it down to N1,200. So, we want to go into farming, and with the support of the government, we know that Rivers women are going to make it.

“We want the governor to support us. If it is garri, we want him to give us a garri processing machine. We need fertiliser. We need seedlings,” she added.

Also speaking, Ihuoma Eze, the state coordinator of WIFAASN, explained that the state chapter of the organisation would be launched on Saturday, July 20, 2024, and solicited logistics support to ensure the success of the programme.

Responding, Gov Sim Fubara said Rivers State was rolling out packages to support agriculture from the next budget but that it was not for those he called portfolio farmers.

Instead, Fubara said, the package would go directly to ‘real farmers no matter how ordinary they look’.

He maintained that agriculture would be accorded top priority in the 2025 budget to achieve the agriculture policies of the government for the people of the state.

Represented by George Nweake, the Rivers State head of service, Fubara hinted that the agriculture policies of his administration have already been perfected, waiting for the time of execution and implementation.

He said: “We will not give it to people who don’t have farms. We will not deal with portfolio farmers. We will not throw it in the air for the fastest person to catch it. No. If the best person in farming is a lame person, he will get it. Even if a sprinter is there, the sprinter will not be able to reach it. We are going to do things that will have a human face.”

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The governor admitted that the state was rich in agric potential but said these have been neglected over the years.

The new drive in the state, he noted, was also in line with the pet project of Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the president of Nigeria, named; “Agricultural Support Programme” and “Every Home a Garden”. These projects within the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration, are said to be aimed at supporting women farmers nationwide to strengthen the agricultural sector of the economy.

He said research had shown that the state is rich in fruits but that these are not in the market. He urged every woman who came out to march to produce at least one bag of garri.

He commended members of the organisation for their resolve to venture into farming and ensure food sufficiency in the state and urged them to put their houses in order and reach out to the Ministry of Agriculture to incorporate them into the government’s agriculture initiative.

Speaking, Victor Kii, the state commissioner for agriculture, thanked members of the organisation for the visit, noting that it demonstrated their commitment and dedication to the welfare of the state.