My older brother is a farmer. He has a poultry farm. His mango groove, corn fields, beans, and ginger farms are spread over hectares of land.

He retired from civil service and chose to go into agriculture. Fortunately, all the inherited farmlands cut down significantly into the finances required for such an investment. However, it is important to state that he began his farming expedition decades ago and has been scaling up and diversifying year after year.

We grew up in a family that takes farming seriously. Our parents farmed and so did their parents. Even though we have focused on academic excellence for our children, we have involved them in one form of agricultural production or the other.

After retiring from civil service as a licensed quantity surveyor, it is not surprising that he chose to deepdive into agriculture rather than property development.

His choice, I am sure, was also influenced by the multi dimensional impact of agriculture on health and development.

The new policy direction of the Federal Government as has been repeatedly announced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is improving investment and mechanisms the agricultural sector to pull in the droves of unemployed youth for job creation, and also to put Nigeria among the topmost exporters of agricultural products for improved GDP and naira value.

These situate his interests in farming right at the inner of the current policy direction.

In our conversations during this farming season, as in the previous years, we discussed prospects of the products.

The prospects are good but with enough challenges to keep a large-scale farmer awake.

His major concern, this year, which stems from observation, is that farming is not getting as much attention as animal husbandry, especially where the industry is hit by unforeseen and sometimes unknown circumstances.

Bird flu, anthrax, and other diseases that can grow into epidemic proportions are swifly addressed, with huge sums of funds disbursed for monitoring, management, and prevention.

The same cannot be said for farming.

Sometimes, farmers experience huge losses from unknown phenomena that attack the crops, and there is little or no public awareness, no press coverage, and consequently, no government attention and response.

I am concerned about the plight of farmers because, as a 2023 Presidential Aspirant, i share the renewed hope agenda intoto. This means that I believe in the interest of the Jagaban Administration to make farming sexy and farmers wealthy.

This is why i am bringing to the public domain the disaster that has befallen farmers of ginger this year.

We grew up knowing ginger as a key spice in our recipes, which also has medicinal value.

In the past decades, ginger farming has been lucrative as it occupies a top position in the export goods from Nigeria.

This year, the story is tragic across the North Central, where most of the ginger is cultivated.

He said they have no idea what has happened this season, but some weeks back, the ginger plant leaves started wilting. They checked if there were insects, but there were non visible. Then, the leaves dried up at a time when the ginger roots had not matured.

He shared the story of one of his colleagues who collapsed after discovering that he could not even harvest and dry the premature ginger because the roots were totally rotten. Hectares of rotten ginger!

This farmer had taken loans to scale up his production.

Now, he does not have the capacity to pay back the loan. His case is one of the hundreds that will not be rejoicing coming home with sheaves after sowing with tears.

My brother’s situation is not different as far as his ginger farm is concerned.

I wish to appreciate the effort of the Nigeria Export Council that has commenced the inspection of ginger farms in southern Kaduna.

But a lot more needs to be done to give the farmers some succour. It is in this light that I am lending my voice to the ginger farmers to call on the Presidency and the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Root Crops Research Institute to:

1. Swiftly provide resources for the investigation of this strange phenomenon, and identify solutions to this tragedy before the next farming season.

2. Conduct research across the entire North Central and other places where ginger farming is undertaken in commercial quantities.

3. Undertake massive awareness creation and education targeting farmers to avoid recurrences.

4. Strengthen farmers associations that are focused on these less visible crops, which are very valuable to our economy and our health.

5. Institute monitoring and observatories for the agriculture sector for various crop types, especially those with the capacity to generate foreign currency inflow.

6. Provide interventions that will cushion the impact of the losses incurred by the farmers and support them to get back on their feet.
In attempt to rejuvenate our Nation’s economy, which has been plunged into the abyss of bankruptcy, we cannot afford to neglect any activity that has the potential to contribute even a droplet of funds to our revenue. It is the droplets that fill the Central Bank.

Agriculture is a sector that engages women. Farm products like ginger employ women who do over 70% of the processing from planting to marketing.

Neglecting this phenomenon will bring untold hardship to women who earn their living and support their families from these farms.

Many farmers will be decapitalised, and Nigeria would have lost a significant part of her GDP, especially if the loss is measured, taking future implications and consequences into consideration.

In attempt to rejuvenate our Nation’s economy, which has been plunged into the abyss of bankruptcy, we cannot afford to neglect any activity that has the potential to contribute even a droplet of funds to our revenue. It is the droplets that fill the Central Bank.