By Brave Dickson
Following the recent budget presentation for the 2020 fiscal year by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, farmers have advised the governor on how to achieve productive agriculture in the state
The farmers, under the banner of the Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria, Rivers State (POFAN) called on the governor to always consult real farmers like them for advice, who are technocrats.
Speaking with our correspondent, the state chairman of the association, Mr Felix Emea said: “It is the duty of the government to get to the stakeholders of agriculture.
“There are people who can mobilize others for farming and there are people that draw programmes for farming.
“Government should be able to know all these people and bring them together. We are ready to help government structure a blueprint for productive agriculture in Rivers State.
“And these are the things we have been telling government but it has always been in the ministry where two persons will give advice and before you know it, farmers are not engaged.
“Farmers are not civil servants. They are people that are subjected to hash weather. So they should be identified.
“Government should be able to know who are the real farmers in the state and what they are producing, and the crops that are in high demand.
“We are available to help government understand the nature of our environment and what the people need. Because not all crops are favourable to our own environment.
“These are the things that government should be able to know and bring us together to get it done properly.
“We are farmers and not policy makers of government. We are pure farmers that organize people to go to farm and work.
“I do believe that every government is interested in agriculture because it is one of the things that constitutes stability in the economy.
“Rivers State is agricultural state. In the interlands, people are engaged in various categories of farming.
“As a technocrat in the agricultural system, I do know that there are people that plant for the pot. These are people that plant, harvest, cook from it and eat with their children.
“But we are talking about productive agriculture on mechanised basis, the governor should call in experts like us, because we are the people who are in it.”
