Monarch urges govt to support rural farmers

The Orokere-Amuro in Mopamuro Local Government Area of Kogi State, Oba Jacob Mejedi, has called on government at all levels to provide support for rural farmers to boost food production.

The traditional ruler  made the call during the annual celebration of the New Yam Festival, on Thursday, in Mopamuro, Kogi.

He urged government to give adequate and timely support to  farmers in rural areas, as they are the major sources of food production for the country.

Mejedi noted that the state government had promised to support his people with farm inputs like fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides and others in August 2015, but failed to fulfill the promise.

He said  the community was having unusually small tubers of yam this year because of inadequate rainfall and lack of farm inputs to boost farm production.

“We only heard of the Federal Government agricultural loans to farmers on radio and television but our communities have never benefited from the gesture.

“We are appealing to the federal and state governments to ensure that farmers in villages also benefit from  incentives and programmes for farmers across the federation.

“This will encourage our people to actively engage in grass-roots farming activities which will in turn boost massive production of food for local consumption and export,” Mejedi said.

The traditional ruler also urged government to make provision for storage facilities and good access roads to farmlands for easy transportation of farm produce to markets.

Amuro New Yam Festival, celebrated annually on July 7, witnessed a huge turnout of residents, visitors and indigenes of the seven communities in Amuro and people from other parts of the country.