By Ade Iyamoye
As the 2025 wet season farming gets underway, farmers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are calling on the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, to prioritize subsidizing agricultural inputs to avert the hardships they faced last year.
Despite Wike’s efforts to develop rural infrastructure, many farmers believe his administration has underperformed in agriculture, leaving them struggling with the soaring costs of essential farm inputs.
Joseph Shekwoyi, a crop farmer in Bwari, lamented that last year, many farmers could not afford improved seeds such as maize, cowpea, and millet, forcing them to rely on traditional varieties with lower yields.
“Most of us couldn’t buy improved seeds because of their high cost. Traditional seeds no longer guarantee good harvests per hectare,” Shekwoyi told Abuja Metro.
Mallam Abubakar Yunusa, a rice farmer, echoed similar concerns, stating that apart from the unaffordable Faro 44 rice seeds, fertilizers and agrochemicals were also beyond the reach of many farmers.
“How much does a 50kg bag of Faro 44 cost today? It runs into thousands of naira, and most farmers can’t afford that.
“This is where we expect the minister’s intervention,” Yunusa stressed.
Vegetable farmer Modupe Ige, based in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), commended the government’s efforts in opening up rural roads but argued that without direct support for agricultural production, those efforts would have little impact.
“If you build roads but fail to support the actual production of crops, then we have achieved nothing. The minister must deliberately subsidize inputs this season so we can expand our farms and boost food production,” she said.
Joshua Gana, a farmer in Gwagwalada, urged the FCT administration to invest in mechanized farming, calling for tractors and harvesters to be provided through farmer cooperatives or local councils.
“Relying on manual labor is outdated. Mechanization will not only increase production but also attract more young people to farming,” Gana emphasized.
Government’s Response
A senior official at the FCT Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat acknowledged the farmers’ concerns, admitting that some were left out of last year’s support program under the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) Project.
“The inputs distribution last year came a bit late, but its impact was still felt. However, we recognize that many rural farmers were not captured, and we are making deliberate efforts to reach more this year,” the official assured.
On preparations for the 2025 planting season, he confirmed that plans were already in motion to ensure early distribution of inputs and expanded coverage of beneficiaries.
“The inputs will reach farmers on time this year, and we are committed to capturing more farmers, particularly in rural areas,” he added.
As the farming season begins, all eyes are on the FCT administration to see whether it will heed the farmers’ call and take decisive action to boost agricultural productivity in the nation’s capital.
