ABUJA – The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Calabar chapter, has decried the deplorable state of Federal roads linking major cities in Cross River.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Mr Etim Nakanda, the Calabar Chairman, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
He said that poor road network had contributed to inaccessibility of vital crops.
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“Our problems in agriculture is that we do not reach out because of non-accessibility of roads.
“Cross River has the worst roads; the road linking Abia, Akwa Ibom to Cross River- Calabar is bad and nothing is done.
“The road linking from Benue state, Abakaliki, that is Ebonyi state to Calabar is bad. Calabar had been the first federal capital of Nigeria but there is no railway till now; promises upon promises every year.”
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The chairman said that the poor road network had dwindled the agricultural sector in the state as frequent movement of goods from the state to other parts of the country had been stalled.
Nakanda also expressed displeasure over the lack of ready grants to farmer associations in the country.
“Farmers bodies like All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Women in Agriculture, Youths in Agriculture and the Young Farmers Club are not given grants.
“Nobody recognises us to give us even bus and Hilux vehicles to reach out to our various areas to mobilise them, to sensitise them.
“To reorient them on the programmes of government, especially the Agricultural Transforming Agenda (ATA) and other programmes.
“Even in developed countries of the world, subsidies are given to agriculture, we need it, especially areas of the South South where we have the rainforest.
“We need to break it, you don’t allow us to go and do it by ourselves and then bring the food at a cheaper rate to everybody.” (NAN)
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