Our Problem is Lack of Mechanized Farming - Garafini

Special Adviser to the Governor of Niger State on Local Government Affairs Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Garafini told Daily Trust that mechanized farming system is the only solution to ensuring food security in the State and Nigeria.

As the former commissioner of Agriculture in Niger state, what, in your view are the factors militating against the development of agriculture in the state?

The problem of agriculture in Niger state is lack of mechanized farming system. Right now people are not interested in using hoes and cutlasses. It is an old way of farming practiced by our old parents, who have now grown old without the energy to continue to till the ground with these crude implements. The young farmers do not want to go into using crude implements, so what we need now in the state is the mechanization of agriculture. Because I believe that an educated person will be very happy to see himself driving a tractor to cultivate his farm. I would want to advise that if there is money, government should procure enough tractors that can get to all the local governments of the state. These tractors should be sold to cooperative farmers associations and large scale farmers so that the young men and women just graduating from secondary and tertiary institutions could go into agriculture. But without mechanization, agriculture will continue to lose its prominence with the consequences of poor harvest that could threaten food security in the state and the country at large. In essence, farmers need farm inputs such as tractors, fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides to improve and boost production in the state.

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