By Newscritic reporters
Ebonyi State and Regional Chairman of Maize Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, MAGPAMAN, Chief Ebere Orji, has said that agriculture is the only way out for Nigeria to survive and called on Nigerians to go back to farming in order to combat hunger.
Speaking on the side-lines of a stakeholders meeting held at Umuahia the Abia state capital on Wednesday, February 10th, 2021 the chairman Ebonyi state chapter of MAGPAMAN and regional chairman South East, Chief Ebere Orji, stressed that Nigerians can’t go wrong with agriculture because it has a lot of potentials, as well as offers a lot of opportunities for employment.
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for banning the importation of foreign rice into the country, which he said has helped a lot of local farmers to sale their products, and also boost production. Chief Ebere Orji appealed to the federal government to assist the farmers with storage facilities to enable the farmers to store seasonal crops so that it would not go off the market during off season.
The Ebonyi State Chairman of MAGPAMAN, advised Nigerians farmers to explore the opportunities available in Piggery and goat rearing, because Nigeria has the population and market for agriculture. He said poultry farming in large scale is also good, pointing out that a lot of cows Nigerians consume come from Mali and Chad.
He disclosed that with just two hundred thousand naira start up capital for pig farming, in two years the farmer, according to him can keep over N10m, adding that he can testify to this lucrative business.
Chief Ebere Orji said the meeting in Umuahia is part of its loan recovery drive, and to encourage the local government coordinators on the importance of paying back the Agric loans facilities they got from the federal government. To him it is important the farmers paid back the loans so that the federal government would have money to reimburse them again.
On why the farmers are reluctant in paying back the loans, he said it is due to the erroneous impression that Nigeria runs a social welfare programme and the believe in the national cake, adding they are trying to correct that impression because of the genuine farmers.
“Actually, Nigerians believe in national cake, but we are trying to make them understand they are good farmers, that most of them are genuine. That is why we are on this campaign, touring round to change their mindset and a lot of them have tried to comply, Chief Ebere Orji noted.