Tinubu’s agriculture plans require effective implementation to yield results— AFAN chairman
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Ondo State Chapter, has said that President Bola Tinubu’s agriculture plans require effective implementation to yield positive results.
Mr Abayomi Monilari, the AFAN Chairman, said this while assessing President Tinubu’s performance after his first year in office.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Akure on Tuesday,
Monilari said that in spite of Tinubu’s good plans for the sector, nothing significant had been achieved.
“Agriculture is not theory; rather, it is pure practical and a good plan goes beyond saying on the media I will do this and I will do that.
“A plan cannot be rated until it has been excuted. If a child is telling you that he or she is brilliant without sitting for exams for you to mark his script, it will be difficult to assess he or she.
“To me, he (Tinubu) has good plans, but the plans have not been excuted.
“He is still in the planning process and when you are in planning process, you may fail or succeed,” the AFAN chairman said.
According to him, in as much as the government had pronounced a state of emergency on agriculture, the country shouldn’t be where it is now.
“We ought to have been in stage of producing and production, not the stage of preparing.
“Moreover, food insecurity is beyond giving out palliatives or buying food items and distributing to people.
“So, our agriculture system is not moving; it is at stands still and things are not okay in the country,” he said.
Monilari, who also doubles as state President of Ondo State Farmers’ Congress, said that the government should encourage farmers by giving them the necessary support, including subsidised input, soft loans, among others.
The chairman also said that the only way to improve agriculture in the country was to involve major stakeholders and those practicing farming, not political farmers.
He implored the government to prioritise farmers welfare by supporting and empowering security agencies to tackle the issue of insecurity affecting farmers across the country.
“Insecurity has added more to where we are now because many people are leavving their farms.
“Many farmers have been dislodged, many farmers have been killed by the insurgent.
So, nobody wants to risk his or her life in order to produce for somebody else.
“So, our government should do more on insecurity to secure the farmers,” he said
Monilari further said that the moment farmlands and farmers are secured, then we would be able to produce and tackle the issue of hunger and food insecurity.
The AFAN chairman charged farmers not to keep quiet and report to the authorities any suspected unusual movement in their areas.
He urged the populace to take up farming on available space around them, particularly within their premises, to avoid famine.
