By Agrobroadcast Team
A development communications strategist, Feyikemi Adurogbangba, has called on the Federal Government and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector to strengthen existing agricultural initiatives rather than launching new programmes that operate independently.
Adurogbangba made the appeal on Wednesday in Abuja while responding to concerns raised by farmers over heavy losses caused by sharp drops in food prices during harvest periods.
In a statement reviewing the situation, she noted that farmers continue to grapple with recurring difficulties despite numerous intervention programmes introduced by government agencies and development partners.
She stressed the need for better coordination across the agricultural value chain, urging stakeholders to build on the foundations laid by earlier programmes instead of starting new initiatives that function in isolation.
According to her, the persistent challenges faced by farmers will remain unresolved unless the burden of risk in agricultural production is reduced for those least able to absorb it.
She observed that although there have been improvements in farming practices and infrastructure, many farmers still struggle with post-harvest price collapses, limited access to large-scale and affordable storage facilities, and weak bargaining power that prevents them from securing favourable market prices.
Adurogbangba also pointed to a range of recurring problems affecting the sector, including rising costs of farm inputs and transportation, unstable market conditions, post-harvest losses, and farmers’ dependence on profits from one crop to compensate for losses in others.
She criticised what she described as long-standing structural weaknesses within the agricultural system, noting that the majority of risks in food production continue to fall disproportionately on farmers.
Linking the situation to broader economic pressures, she explained that farmers have, in recent years, faced steep increases in input costs following subsidy removal, climate-related challenges such as flooding and irregular weather patterns, as well as foreign exchange fluctuations that have driven up the cost of fertiliser, packaging, and logistics.
“These system-wide pressures have progressed faster than the gains from existing programmes could expand, thereby weakening many of the improvements previously achieved,” she said.
While acknowledging that boosting productivity, improving storage capacity, and strengthening market information systems remain important, Adurogbangba emphasised that these measures alone cannot resolve the problem without stronger collaboration among stakeholders.
She therefore called for coordinated action between federal and state governments, a transition from small-scale pilot interventions to broader market-stabilisation strategies, and targeted policies aimed at protecting farmers from seasonal price crashes.