A farmers’ union under the auspices of Nigeria Farmers Group and Cooperative Society (NFGCS) has berated the federal government over a recent donation of 25,000 tonnes of wheat to the country by war-torn Ukraine.
The union, which raised its concern over the donation and the glee with which government officials greeted the donation, said it was out of place for the government to celebrate since Nigeria had all it took to produce enough food for its citizens.
The Farmers’ union also joined voices with many prominent Nigerians who have roundly criticised emergency food assistance to Nigeria, and accused the federal government of “not doing enough to ensure food security in the country despite enjoying relative peace when compared to Ukraine which has been at war with Russia for close to two years.”
Managing Partner of the NFGCS, Retson Tedheke, who voiced the farmers’ frustration at briefing briefing in Abuja on Saturday, lamented the free fall of the naira which he says was as a result of the failure of government to adopt advanced farming technologies and invest strategically in agriculture.
According to Tedheke, a government intervention programme known as the Anchor Borrower’s Scheme which was set up by former President Muhammadu Buhari to give agriculture loans to farmers, failed to yield the desired result because the billions of naira spent on the programme was channeled to contractors instead of those in the industry who have the requisite experience.
He explained that government should have allowed the commercial banks play the role of monitoring, evaluation, and progress reporting of the programme rather than the current practice where they are pressured and over burdened to give loans to farmers.
Tedheke stated that the group has decided to come up with a technology driven farming investment programme called “agbadovision” towards rescuing the nation from from the imminent food crisis should the government fail to take proactive steps towards tackling various challenges that could lead to food shortage.
To achieve its aim, the group said it has developed an app called “Agbatoken” which is aimed at revolutionising agricultural finance through tokenization.
“We have learned that we can utilize technology to put the vast land in Nigeria and people to good use. So today, a great day in the next one month we’re going to call all of you to the launch.”
Explaining the usefulness of the app, Tedheke said:
“Within a month, not just 1 million, or 2 million, or 3 million or 5 million, but about $10 million is going to be on the table based on blockchain technology tokenizing NFGCS Farm Estate driving agriculture revolution for the greater good of our people, for the stability of our country, for national security, for social stability and a foundation that is impossible to be broken because food is life.”
He noted that with a current valuation of $10 million, the token will overcome funding constraints, facilitate postal expansion, and incentivize sustainable agricultural practices.