Proposed fuel subsidy removal worries farmers’ group

THE Association of Small Scale Agro-Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN) has said that the Federal Government’s proposed fuel subsidy removal would have adverse effect on small-scale farmers.

Mr. Joshua Mabinuori, the national vice-president of the association stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, recently.

The Vice-President, who said that the removal of the subsidy would make farming unprofitable for small-scale farmers, urged government to call off the plan to make farming attractive to small-scale farmers.

“We believe that the (removal of) fuel subsidy will have a very harsh effect on Nigerian farmers, particularly the small scale-farmers; even the big-scale farmers as well, because transportation has always been a problem.

“Bringing farm produce from the farm into the open market has always been a problem to Nigerian farmers in the sense that most of the roads are bad so drivers are even reluctant to go there.

“Now when the cost of fuel is increased, going to rural areas, where roads are bad to carry food items will be more expensive because that will simply mean additional cost of production.”

Mabinuori explained that even with fuel subsidy, farmers still found transporting their produce to the markets a major challenge.

The ASSAPIN vice-president also urged government to do all it could to encourage small-scale farming, particularly food production.

Mabinuori maintained that government could do that by further subsidising agricultural input for farmers.