Brave Dickson
Farmers have berated the Nyesom Wike-led state government, saying that his administration lacks knowledge in agriculture.
The farmers said this, following what they term as agro backwardness in the state under the Wike administration.
In a chat with our correspondent, the National President, Association of Commercial Farmers and Agro-Allied Producers of Nigeria, Engr. Fidelis Amadi noted that the state would have been the hub of some staple food in the country, such as cassava, but the state government’s anti-agricultural policy frustrated it.
Amadi said, “it was anti-agriculture for Wike to have concentrated development in the state capital without considering the farming communities.
“That alone, made the youths migrate to the city, leaving the farming business for the elderly whose strength can not harvest much.
“Secondly, the state government has demonstrated low interest in agriculture which has discouraged those who would have invested in agriculture.
“The state government would have provided electricity and access roads to all the farming communities to attract small businesses in the rural areas so as for farmers not to see the need of transporting their products to the city before making huge sales.
“Report had shown that over 70 per cent of active farmers had only primary education which is an embarrassment to the state. This development has made agriculture in the state look like an illiterate business.
“What the state government would have done is to provide free adult education for the less educated farmers and mechanized the agricultural sector in the state as it is done in other places.”
The farmers also said they had advised the state government on making agriculture more attractive in the state but the government refused to listen.
