Food insecurity: Showunmi calls for empowerment of ‘real farmers’

By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta

The Convener of The Alternative, a pan-Nigeria movement, Otunba Segun Showunmi has called for the empowerment of ‘real farmers’, as part of measures to end food scarcity in the country.

Showunmi therefore appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the 36 State governors to move more farmers from subsistence to mechanized farming.

The PDP chieftain, who made the call in Abeokuta, during an advocacy meeting with farmers under the aegis of “Agbe Gbe Lu Agro Network Limited”, emphasized that when grassroot farmers are empowered with necessary tools and equipment, including tractors, fertilizers and seedlings, there would be an increase in food production in the country.

He commended President Tinubu’s recent ban on the exportation of raw shea nuts, stressing that the action will encourage local processing, add value within the nation rather than fattening the pockets of those outside.

Showunmi who was represented by the Southwest Chairman of the Movement, Olusola Salau, described farmers as a reliable group, expressing confidence that if empowered, there would be an increase of food production in the country.

He said, “they are not asking the government for lands, they have theirs already. All they are asking is to end this primitive farming, that the government of Dapo Abiodun and President Bola Tinubu should key into their plight and give them tractors so that increase of food can be experienced in Ogun state.

“These people are not politicians, they are reliable when it comes to vote changes, although Otunba Showunmi is in PDP, he’s a brother to Prince Dapo Abiodun and Dapo Abiodun have gone to Brazil and knows the importance of farmers, so we are calling on the governor to see this group as an important one that should be empowered. Give them equipments to do their work so there would be increase in food in Ogun state”.

He advised the farmers to take participate actively in the ongoing voters registrations by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as part of preparation for the 2027 general elections.

Speaking earlier, the Baale Agbe, Fohunola Ajani, revealed that politicians are the only beneficiaries of government empowerment, maintaining that after receiving these farm machineries, they(politicians)sell them off leaving real farmers to cultivate with hoes and cutlasses.

Meanwhile, one of the farmers, a septuagenarian identified as Ojeyinka Bamidele, bemoaned the government’s emphasis on training women and youths while ignoring the elderly, who are also farmers.

According to Bamidele, many young people alter their career paths after obtaining these funds, trainings, and even equipment, thus urging the government to restructure its selection and grant distribution criteria.

He said, “When they want to do training, they forget that those of us who are old are in the farm. They do training for youth and women, I wouldn’t say they should not continue to train the youth, but they should not forget those of us that are working, because many youth after receiving training, money and materials go away, but we are still on the farm.

“When they want to give us loans or whatever, it’s those in the office that usually collect it. For those of us working in the farm the condition they will give to us does not allow us to take the loan, so we want them to make sure that they do it easy for us to take loan”.

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