August 03, (THEWILL) – The group, under the aegis of the Association of United Farmers Benue Valley (AUFBV), has praised Governor Hyacinth Alia’s policy thrust on promoting agriculture in Benue state.
The group, however, expressed worry over the ability and alleged involvement of Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Professor Moses Ogbaji, calling on him to resign from office with immediate effect.
A news conference, held at NUJ House, Makurdi, on Saturday, noted that the Alia administration granted subsidies for farming inputs and directed sales directly to farmers through cooperatives.
The leader of the group, Mr Dennis Denen Utsa, alleged that the Ministry and Bureau of Agriculture and Mechanisation staff deliberately floated the governor’s instructions and connived with market women and men to grab, seize and hold agro-herbicide thereby creating artificial scarcity of the product and selling it to non-farmers.
“Farmers are dehumanised, treated as second-class citizens, subjected to mental, psychological, and physical torture. Many of them have already paid for the inputs, but were not giving up to date at the distribution point.”
The AUFBV president further alleged that the staff at the Bureau of Agriculture and Mechanisation also diverted inputs and are selling them at the gate of the Benue State Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (BNARDA), office at higher prices for their gain.
“Most of these farmers are IDPs ejected from their ancestral homes and cannot afford the herbicide market price of N3,500 but at the Government subsidy price of N1,700”, he lamented.
According to Mr Utsa, Governor Alia has granted subsidies because of farmers’ demand and stressed the need for urgent intervention by the governor to address the misconduct and protect the right of farmers to take ownership of sales to avert the danger of food insecurity and hunger.
Mr Utsa, who said 1008 cooperative bodies are formed in the state, stated that about 10,000 registered farmers need fertiliser and other inputs to improve their living standards after produce they would have made from the farm.
He called for the involvement of traditional rulers in the distribution of farming inputs as it will reach various council wards for the purpose it is meant.
In his remarks, the NUJ Chairman, Comrade Vincent Nyiyongo, commended Governor Alia for the early purchase and distribution of fertiliser and other farming inputs to ensure food stability in the state.
He thanked the president of AUFBV for voicing out the alleged sharp practices during the distribution of inputs by Government officials.
He assured the journalists will give adequate publicity to the conference so the outside world to know the efforts of Governor Alia and the challenges people within the system are causing to discredit it.
