Many farmers suffer post-harvest losses in Enugu and Ebonyi states due to low investments in food storage facilities by both governments and private individuals. In this report, Ben Aroh explores how farmers and traders in the two states lose fortunes from this neglect.
Tales of Woes
Dr Kanayo Ossai is a lecturer at a private higher institution in Enugu. Two years ago, he embarked on massive cassava plantation at Akegbe, Nkanu West LGA of Enugu State. “I have a fertile sizeable land, and it encouraged me to embark on farming two years ago,” he told THE WHISTLER. “I harvested the cassava using labourers, and moved them in bags to the market to sell. I had expected to make fortunes. Unfortunately, the day I went to the market, many cassava farmers brought the commodity to sell. The two persons I mobilised to sell mine called me around 3pm, that they couldn’t sell them. They said the price that buyers were offering was poor. When I asked them to sell at whatever rate, the buyers had become reluctant.”
Ossai’s cassava tubers were left inside the bags pending another market day, which was in four days. “When we returned,” he said, “The cassava tubers had rotten, and that was all my reward for my labour. I abandoned cassava plantation since then. I then concentrated on palm tree plantation.”
Our correspondent was at Obollo-Afor market in Udenu LGA of Enugu State. A yam dealer, Samson Mhii, from Oshongo in Benue State, narrated his losses due to lack of food storage facilities in the market.
According to him, “We brought many tubers of yam to this market last month. We offloaded them, and due to ‘bad’ market, the yams overstayed. On the fourth day, a majority of them decayed. It was a big loss to us. We buy these tubers on credit. Till today, we are still paying the money for the lost tubers.”
Cyprian Ajah is a farmer cum journalist based in Aninri LGA of Enugu State. He said, “Lack of food preservation facilities discourages farming. I have a barn where I preserve my yam after harvest. At times, they rot, especially when they are exposed to heat. Where we incur more losses is on perishable crops, such as okro, pepper and vegetables. Because they are frail, farmers are forced to sell them at cheaper prices to avoid losing everything. We are at the mercy of the buyers.”
Ajah encouraged individual investors to embark on building silos and cold rooms for food storage. In his words, “Investing in food preservation facilities is a sector that will make huge profits. Of course, governments always seem not serious with essential things like silos and cold rooms. If we have such at various markets and community levels, farmers will be assured of the safety of their products, and they will work harder. Many people are afraid to farm because of lack of storage facilities.”
Ebonyi Lacking Storage Facilities Despite Farming Potentials
Rotten water melon at Abakaliki market
In Ebonyi State, the story is the same. Despite its agricultural potentialities, farmers in the state lose a lot of their harvest. Charles Olumba and Ndukwe Okpani are researchers at the Department of Agricultural Economics, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. They submitted that, “Preservation and storage of farm produce have been a major challenge for farmers. Modern storage facilities for agricultural produce are lacking in Ebonyi State which has led to huge post-harvest losses. Individuals and firms can seize the opportunity and establish private storage and preservation facilities, such as cold rooms, modern barns and silos for storing grains. The establishment of these storage and preservation facilities by private firms and individuals will not only make these investors make a profit but create jobs, increase welfare and ultimately reduce hunger and poverty of a good number of Ebonyi citizens.”
They suggested the adoption of solar powered storage facilities because of the epileptic power supply in Nigeria. They said, “Investment in solar energy is also identified as an investment opportunity in Ebonyi State. Although some solar energy providing firms already exist in Ebonyi State, there is still more room for investment. Solar power can solve the power needs of most farms since most of them are found in rural and remote areas where power supply might be a major challenge.”
Enugu State Lacks Capacity to Harness its Agro-Endowments – DG, NCCIMA
Mr Uchenna Nnadi is the director general, Nsukka Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. He berated the inability of Enugu State to explore its commercial and agricultural endowments. According to him, “Enugu State has the largest arable land in Southeast. It is also the Eastern gateway to Northern Nigeria as well as the host of the highest concentration of aggregation hubs of agro-products in Southern Nigeria. The bulk of agro-products in Northern Nigeria is aggregated in Enugu State. You can see the importance of appropriate storage and transport logistics for agro-products in Enugu State.”
He further regretted that Enugu State, like Nigeria, has not built the capacity and capability for data gathering and analysis, “but depends on data from foreign institutions”. He recalled that in 2017, the Executive Director, Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), Professor Olufemi Peters, stated that Nigeria loses more than $8.9 billion (₦2.7 trillion) annually as a result of post-harvest food losses.
He continued, “It is worse today. Post-harvest food losses are like death of children after weaning them of breast milk. Tackling post-harvest food losses is an emergency situation in Enugu State as in Nigeria where insecurity, outdated agro-inputs, methods and implements, and low yield per hectare are already fueling acute food shortage. The losses also transpose food export to food import, thus worsening Nigeria’s GDP, inflation and currency stability. In the latest ranking, Enugu State is the least in terms of GDP in Southeast, Nigeria. This is unacceptable for a blessed gateway state.”
Nnadi suggested an integrated approach to tackle the impacts. According to him, “This approach adopts identifying factor endowments across the state, carve them into clusters, and adopt integrated development plans to optimize global value chains from these clusters. This means that any agro-product will have its primary, secondary and tertiary value chains planned, designed and implemented across the areas of comparative advantage in the state.”
He mentioned the composition of the approach to include building modern storage facilities, temperature control, and pest management, including silos for grains. “It also includes investing in processing and preservation technologies to extend shelf life and reduce spoilage; improving market access and pricing mechanisms to reduce gluts and incentivize farmers to produce high-quality produce; targeted improving of rural roads, energy, and water supply to facilitate efficient transportation and processing, as well as developing and implementing policies that support post-harvest management, such as tax incentives for investors and subsidies for farmers,” he said.
Some use carbide and sniper to preserve locally – Ebonyi woman
Cordelia Eze is a foodstuff merchant in Ohazara, Ebonyi State. She said there are some local ways to preserve some foodstuffs. According to her, “Like maize and beans, if you stock them in a gallon, apply enough ground pepper. Nothing will happen to them. Weevils can’t survive inside gallons with the odour of pepper. I know some people that use little quantity of sniper to preserve their grains. Some use carbide. They are good but people say they can be harmful to human lives.”
Dr Ikechukwu Eze is a medical practitioner in Abakaliki. He warned of the dangers of using some chemicals to preserve foodstuffs. Quoting him, “Using calcium carbide to preserve food items is harmful to health. It causes cough and shortness of breath. Higher exposure can lead to a build-up of fluid in the lungs, called pulmonary edema. Anyone using sniper or otapiapia is a killer. It causes respiratory paralyses and death. It is also injurious to body organs and can lead of ulcer.”
We are working towards that – Enugu Agric Commissioner
Hon Patrick Uburu is the commissioner for agriculture, Enugu State. He said provision of food storage facilities is among the agro-policies of Gov Peter Mbah. Quoting him, “The plans we have as a state government will avert about 40% post-harvest losses. We have plans on doing silos. Agriculture was in comatose when we came. We are just trying to put life into the sector. It is already happening because our people are willing and very eager to go back to the farm. Those things will not be a problem when we finish what have rolled out.
“Even our special agro-processing zones will have silos. Our produce cities will have silos. Our warehouses under the state ministry of agriculture will be rehabilitated, with silos installed. This thing is not a 100 metre dash owing to where we are coming from. We have laid the foundations. We have Enugu Produce City at Isi-Uzo; we have a farm at Okpanku where we have cleared over 500 hectares out of our 1000 hectares. The produce must be protected with these storage facilities.”
His Ebonyi State counterpart did not answer calls put across to him. But a staff member of the state ministry of agriculture said the state government was embarking on massive agriculture initiatives, “and food storage facilities won’t be left out as the food hub of Southeast.”
This report was published with the support of Civic Media Lab
