Chairman Amana Farmers urges the government to provide modern farming technology in Yobe

By: Yahaya Wakili

The new chairman of the Amana Farmers and Grains Suppliers Association of Nigeria (AFGSAN), Yobe State chapter, Alhaji Umar Adam Mamudo, has called on the Yobe State government to provide modern farming technology implements to farmers in the state in order to boost the agricultural activities as well as to produce more food security in the state.

The chairman disclosed this to newsmen in Damaturu. He said, “For now, I will try to make some necessary introductions to some government parastatals so that the association will be well known in the state, and I promise to make some changes in the association with a view to moving the association forward.”

He commended His Excellency, Governor Mai Mala Buni, CON, for the purchases and distributions of the multi-billion naira agricultural empowerment implements to farmers last year. These, he said, have encouraged many people to engage fully in farming activities in the state, adding that these efforts of His Excellency have also stimulated economic growth in the state as well as produced enough food security in Yobe State and Nigeria as a whole.

Mamudo revealed that the association is a combination of farmers and those that deal with grains, and we are also farmers and aggregators, and we know farmers very well—more than anybody—because we are the ones that buy from the farmers either in the market or in the farm or store outside the market.

“Sometimes the government used to give some assistance to farmers, but that assistance most of the time did not go to the real farmers directly; it used to go to some politicians, but I, as a grain dealer, and my colleagues, we know those that are the genuine farmers, the ones that are expected to receive that assistance from the government in order to boost their agricultural activities,” Mamudo said.

“But the way things are going, sometimes when you hear that there is some assistance related to agricultural activities, when you go there, many women and youths, most of whom are not farmers, will collect it and sell it immediately. We are not content with that kind of habit. That is why this is among the plans that I am trying to see how I can go over it.

“Once the association is well known to the government, I know the government will contact us before providing such assistance to the farmers, and we can try our best and put it in the right way, especially by giving it to the genuine farmers, and call on the state government to use how it can boost agricultural activities in the state.

He said, “Although we serve as advisers to the farmers, because most of the time farmers used to contact us about some new seeds or other things that came to them, we give them advice related to any new technology that comes into the farming activities.”

The chairman called on the farmers whenever a new innovation was developed to let them use it in the right way, because without having good advice or following the right guidelines, some of this new innovation, if the farmers did not use it in the right way, would end in loss instead of profit. Farming activities are like agribusiness; most of the farmers are doing it for business, not only for consumption.

Mamudo urged its members, either farmers or grain aggregators, to come together so that we can see how we can make our daily activities in farming and in the grain business perfect, so I solicit their contributions, support, and cooperation to move the association forward.

Chairman Amana Farmers urges the government to provide modern farming technology in Yobe