Farmers doing business in the South-East are lamenting over the difficult conditions under which they operate and do their quota, saying some of them have shut their businesses. “We are running out of business. Our farms are going down.” They spoke.
“Everything involved in the farming business has been on the high side, both in producing crops and animal husbandry. We have not been getting incentives from the government, and when it ever comes, there is much discrimination. Getting support from banks is hard and equally selective too. Worse still, the little we struggle to put together, Fulani herdsmen lead their cows to ravage them. It is very frustrating and from all indications, famine might just be around the corner,” the farmers cried.
A popular cassava farmer in Abia State, Eze Philip Ajomiwe spoke on the harsh conditions under which farmers operate in the country, especially in the South-East. Farmers in Akpaa Mbato community, Obingwa Local Government Area, Abia State, have been crying out over the destruction of their crops by cows herded by Fulani herdsmen. They further confessed that famine was looming in the community if nothing was done to compensate them for the huge losses incurred from the destructions.
A father of four, living in Nwaorieubu, Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State, Mr. Declan Onyewuenyi reported that he was considering quitting poultry farming owing to his recent unpleasant experience. He confessed that he had been engaged in the poultry business for almost eight years but that the high cost of birds and commodities needed for the enterprise pushed him into buying a breed of birds that recorded what he described as the worst form of stunted growth so far, prompting him to spend so much money in attempting to raise the birds to a stage that they could be sold.
