Mrs Mary Edward was sighted walking briskly and pushing a wheelbarrow to her farm on a Wednesday morning at agrarian Oviri Olomu, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.
She’s one of the industrious female farmers whose entire lives depend on subsistence farming.
She was asked about her strategies for survival in these trying times.
According to her, President Bola Tinubu’s policies are playing a dual role – it has not only brought untold hardship but has also driven people to tighten their belts and engage in hard work.
Hear her: “My name is Mary Edward. I am a widow. I was born and brought up here. I am from Oviri Olomu, Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State.
“I was born into farming so I have been farming since I started walking. In 1999, I went to Benin, Edo State.
“I stayed there and returned to Oviri in 2008. When I came back, I still continued farming because that is my source of livelihood.
“I have seven children, two boys and five girls. three of my children are living outside this village but the rest are living here.”
As a farmer, the menace of Fulani herdsmen has been one of the greatest challenges confronting her struggle to weather the storm of hunger and poverty.
“The challenges I am passing through right are as a result of the cows brought into this village by these herdsmen.
“The rate at which they destroy our plantation and cassava farms is alarming.
“If we plant cassava, sometimes before we go back to check on them, they have been destroyed by their cows.
“The result of this is poor harvest. That is the reason garri is expensive. But thank God the price is reducing because if garri is expensive like rice, things will be very difficult.
“When Tinubu was yet to be our president, we were selling a bag of garri for N10,000 to N12,000, but as soon as Tinubu entered the office, the price skyrocketed to N26,000.
“This Tinubu has brought not only bad things, he has also brought good changes.
“Immediately he entered the office and our people discovered how difficult things were going to be, it made us more hardworking. I am talking about Urhobo people now.
“Because of the way the country is, even if it’s raining, we must go to the farm.
“Before this regime, we were so lazy. When we woke up in the morning, all we were concerned about were how to eat and sleep, but now, even if it’s raining, we must go out to look for food.
“We realized that if we don’t work, we won’t eat. So Tinubu gave us good sense to work harder.
“It’s only people that don’t know this that will die of hunger, not farmers like us. Since this month started, I have been planting.
“I planted in July, August and this September. So, if I can clear and maintain what I have planted, I won’t and can’t cry of hunger because, there will be enough to eat and sell.
“So even if they decide to sell a tin milk cup of rice for N1000, as far as I have garri and other things to sell, I will afford it.
“The most affected part of this Tinubu regime is the increase in petrol which has so much affected transportation fare.
“Where I normally transport to with N200, it is now N500. Sometimes, we will have N300, but we can’t go to church on Sundays because the money is not even enough for transportation not to talk about offering.
“If government comes today and they want to help us, I will ask for money to maintain my farmland because that is my office, my source of livelihood.
“The flood we experienced two years ago, dealt with me severely because it destroyed my farmland and my crops,” she reminisced.
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