Dry season: Rice farmers demand water pumps from FG

The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, South-West Zone, on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to commence the distribution of water pumps to rice farmers for dry season production.

The association’s president, Mr Olusegun Atho, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that government should ensure the pumps were given to the farmers.

“Government should try and create an easy way of giving out the water pumps that was promised for dry season farming.

“They should not wait till it is dry season before they begin to distribute it to farmers, so, we are expecting to have them now,” Atho said.

NAN reports that President Goodluck Jonathan had announced that the Federal Government had set aside N14bn for dry season farming in 2014.

Jonathan assured farmers that the Dry Season Farming Support Programme would be made a national policy to enhance farmer’s growth and ensure food security.

The RIFAN president also urged the government to assist rice farmers with other inputs to meet increase in local demand in the face of the proposed ban on rice importation.

Atho noted that early distribution would help farmers to have access to government’s incentives without difficulty.

He said that government needed to equip the farmers with tractors, seedlings and fertilisers.

Atho said that inadequate equipment was a major challenge facing the farmers and also affecting rice production.

“We want to appeal to the government to provide us with modern farming machines because farmers are out to produce to commercial level to meet local demand.

“We expect to get all these incentives before the new planting season begins in April, so, farmers can get the farmland prepared for cultivation.

“Farmers need tractors to plough their lands which will enable them to prepare enough space for planting,” he said.

Atho said his members had already registered under the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme in which most farmers had been alerted through the e-wallet system using mobile phones.

“They gave us forms to fill and we are expected to get alerts on our mobile phones informing us that our details have been documented.

“Rice farmers are expecting to get the inputs, most especially seedlings and fertiliser distributed in due time,” he said.