{"id":61855,"date":"2025-02-28T01:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=61855"},"modified":"2025-02-28T01:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:39:08","slug":"subsidize-inputs-as-wet-season-farming-kicks-off-farmers-tells-wike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/02\/28\/subsidize-inputs-as-wet-season-farming-kicks-off-farmers-tells-wike\/","title":{"rendered":"Subsidize Inputs as Wet Season Farming Kicks Off, Farmers Tells Wike"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ade Iyamoye\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Despite Wike\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of us couldn\u2019t buy improved seeds because of their high cost. Traditional seeds no longer guarantee good harvests per hectare,\u201d Shekwoyi told Abuja Metro.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much does a 50kg bag of Faro 44 cost today? It runs into thousands of naira, and most farmers can\u2019t afford that.<\/p>\n

“This is where we expect the minister\u2019s intervention,\u201d Yunusa stressed.<\/p>\n

Vegetable farmer Modupe Ige, based in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), commended the government\u2019s efforts in opening up rural roads but argued that without direct support for agricultural production, those efforts would have little impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelying on manual labor is outdated. Mechanization will not only increase production but also attract more young people to farming,\u201d Gana emphasized.<\/p>\n

Government\u2019s Response<\/strong><\/p>\n

A senior official at the FCT Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat acknowledged the farmers\u2019 concerns, admitting that some were left out of last year\u2019s support program under the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d the official assured.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe inputs will reach farmers on time this year, and we are committed to capturing more farmers, particularly in rural areas,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

As the farming season begins, all eyes are on the FCT administration to see whether it will heed the farmers\u2019 call and take decisive action to boost agricultural productivity in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ade Iyamoye\u00a0 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\u2019s efforts to develop rural infrastructure, many farmers believe his administration has underperformed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":61856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abuja-reports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61857,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61855\/revisions\/61857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}