Naira Redesign: Farmers Seek FG’s Compensation over Losses

The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has appealed to the federal government to compensate farmers for losses recorded during the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign and cash crunch.

The farmers made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lagos while reviewing the impact of the policy on food production and agribusiness.

“We also discovered that many farmers could not pay their labourers and this became a huge problem.

“Majority of the farms are situated in the rural areas where there is little or no presence of commercial banks so they had to travel long distances and spend more money in order to buy naira from Point of Sale operators to pay the farm workers,” he said.

Oke said it was a great problem because many of the farm workers rely on daily payments because they don’t have bank accounts.

“Many farmers could also not transport their farm produce such as pepper, vegetable and other perishable items to the market due to lack of cash and patronage from customers.

“The situation led to loss of farm produce right before the eyes of the farmers. It was a sad sight to behold.

“We have said it times without number that the CBN should not be dealing or dictating to farmers directly.

“CBN should work with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the umbrella body of farmers, which is AFAN, on issues affecting farmers.

“CBN should desist from dealing directly with them to avoid misinformation and misrepresentation,” he said.

Oke, however, urged farmers not to relent or be discouraged by recent happenings in the economy but to go back to the farms and support government policies to boost food production and self-sufficiency.

“Be rest assured that the incoming government will do a lot for farmers,” he added.

Also speaking, Mrs. Adewunmi Malik-Adeola, a livestock and crop farmer, urged the Federal Government and the CBN to engage farmers in future to prevent needless losses recorded during the implementation of the naira redesign policy.

Malik-Adeola noted that there was poor information about the policy in the rural areas where the majority of the farmers reside.

She lamented that information on the policy’s modalities, take off and implementation was not available.

She added that concerned stakeholders must be educated on government policies to prevent loss of investment which could lead to sickness or even death.

“We are stakeholders and we need to be carried along whenever a new policy is introduced.

“One of the reasons why the programme failed was due to lack of information and how farmers and the general public can prepare ahead.

“It really destroyed a lot of our farming activities during the period, especially the livestock, our birds and eggs.

“It came as a shock to everyone because this is something we have never experienced in the history of this country.

“The damage has been done, the government must look for how to compensate us for all our losses.

Government should release money for us to meet up with demand, we need financial assistance, inputs and grants,” she said.

Secretary, AFAN, Mrs. Abimbola Francis-Fagoyinbo, in Lagos, described the impact of policy on her business as devastating.

Francis-Fagoyinbo, a cassava processor and packaging farmer, said a lot of her products were destroyed due to poor sales.

She urged the government to come up with programmes that would ameliorate the damage in the sector.

“Right now as I speak, some of our farmers are calling me to say that the garri they have processed there’s nobody to buy it and the ones they have lost they cannot recover the money.

“There is no sale and transportation; the cashless policy of the Federal Government really affected farmers.

“As a cassava farmer, whether you like it or not, once it is time to harvest your cassava, you must harvest it, you cannot leave it longer than necessary or else, you will lose it.

We are looking at our market on the ground and we are not selling them and they are going bad because we cannot keep garri for too long,” she lamented.

Francis-Fagoyinbo said that the price of garri had increased due to the naira redesign policy.

“Smallholder farmers rely on the profit they make on their products and turn it over.

“We also paid a lot to manual workers on our farms, we have to buy money to pay them cash because they don’t accept monetary transfers.

“At the end of the day, everything was a waste, what we paid double for, we could not sell them.

“Right now, the price of garri is going up and not coming down because they have made great losses in the past.

“We were buying money to operate our farms so it has affected us.

“Right now, the federal government should come up with a programme that will at least assist the farmers.

“Government should empower us with inputs, chemicals, fertilisers and tools,” she said.

Mrs. Latifat Ajani, a fishery and crop farmer, said the policy and its implementation should be properly studied before reintroducing it.

“The naira redesign policy affected my business a lot, it was a very serious issue for my family and me.

“There was no business or market during the period and I lost some of my fish in the process because fish cannot stay long.

“I was able to survive through the help of my children, there was no sale, and my money was trapped with customers and in the banks.

“It was not a good experience for me because I could not buy feed to feed the fish, transfer was not going through, everything was a disaster. So, I lost many of my investments in the process.

“Government needs to support and compensate us for all our losses,” she said.