A Gombe-based Commercial farmer, Alhaji Ibrahim Babawuro, has called on the three tiers of government to establish small and medium scale industries that would process agricultural produce into second-level commodities.
Babawuro made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Wednesday.
He said farmers had produced a lot of crops but had no machinery to turn them into second-level products for effective marketing, thereby leading to waste of such produce.
“What we need is the establishment of small and medium scale industries to transform the produce to second level.
“Government will have to assist in this direction as most people don’t know where to get the machinery; and if there are machines, even if you don’t own it, you can hire and process your produce,” he said.
According to him, a lot of people, including civil servants, are into farming and need markets to absorb the produce by the peasant, medium and large scale farmers.
On various loan schemes initiated by government, he advised that government should ensure that such schemes reached the real farmers.
Babawuro, who commended the Federal Government’s Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) in boosting farming, also urged the authorities to ensure that farmers got the commodities meant for them.
He said farmers in the state had bumper harvest this year, attributing it to the moderate rainfall recorded in the state.
NAN
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