Disturbed by early sells of farm produce by farmers and its attendant effect on food security in Adamawa State, the State House of Assembly on Monday warned farmers not to hurriedly sell their farm produce but reserve it in order not to suffer hunger in the future.
The House of Assembly lamented that farmers are rushing to sell their harvested grains to food merchants from neighbouring states and described their action as dangerous to themselves, families and the State as a whole.
To check the trend, the State Legislators have urged Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to as a matter of urgency impose high tariff on every truck conveying grains out of the state so as to discourage buyers from other states.
More so, the Honourable Members have unanimously passed a resolution urging the state government to formulate policy so as to regulate early sells of the farm produce.
The Lawmakers further appealed to the state government to mop up excess food to ensure continuous supply chain at affordable prices to masses, explaining that this will ensure food security in and around the state.
Equally, the Members have called on the executive arm to embark on sensitisation of farmers on the need to reserve food for the rainy days, and resist the temptation of selling their harvest early to meet their needs so as not to end up buying those foodstuffs at a higher price later.
The resolutions followed a motion to that effect by former Speaker and Member representing Yola South constituency, Rt. Hon. Kabiru Mijinyawa, at a Monday resumed plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Aminu Iya Abbas.
While moving the motion earlier, Rt. Hon. Mijinyawa raised alarm on how local markets in the state are flooded with farm produce, and how food merchants from Enugu, Abia, Gombe, Jigawa and Kano among other states are buying them in excess, insisting that the action of the farmers will spell doom for the state.
Rt. Hon. Mijinyawa prayed his colleagues to impress on the executive arm to take necessary action to discourage farmers from selling their hard earned farm produce and be wary of those merchants.
According to him, some Local Government Areas in the northern part of the state could not farm due to security challenges, and that the inhabitants of the affected LGAs depend largely on those that produced for their survival.
Speaking on the motion, the Member representing Verre constituency, Hon. Abdullahi Umar Yapak, said that it will be difficult to tell somebody not to sell his farm produce, but there is the way government will deal with the issue.
Hon. Yapak called on the executive arm to vote huge sums of money to buy the grains in large quantity, store it and make it available to the masses at later days, advising government to impose high tariff on food items being transported out of the state.
Also speaking, the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Hammantukur Yetisuri(Jada Mbulo) called on his colleagues to mandate relevant House Standing Committees to liaise with relevant stakeholders to sensitise farmers on the dangers inherent in selling their farm produce, saying practical steps are needed in this regard.
On his part, the Member representing Michika constituency, Hon. Joseph Ayuba Kwada, stated that it appears they do not what the farmers are passing through, informing them that some of the farmers borrow money or obtain loan facility to engage in farming with a promise to pay back after harvesting.
Hon. Kwada added that some of the farmers enter into agreement that they will pay back the money immediately after harvesting, pointing out that some sell it to get money to complete their harvest, settle school fees of their children or prepare for Christmas or any festive season.
In his contribution, Hon. Alhassan Hammanjoda (Ganye) told his colleagues that some farmers sell their farm produce directly from their farms to solve some of their problems.
Hon. Alhassan argued that it is not possible to block buyers from others states from coming into Adamawa to buy, saying that what the house can do is to advise farmers to be wary of the merchants but not give conditions to the farmers.
Also contributing on the debate, Hon. Japhet Kefas, said that it will not augur well for the government to discourage such farmers from selling their produce, stating that it is because government alone cannot solve peoples' problems that is why everybody is advised to go back to farm.
In his comments while presiding over the plenary session, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Aminu Iya Abbas, said that it will be difficult for government to fix prices, control the quantity of the farm produce to be sold by every farmer, control number of trucks going out of the state.
But according to him, it is possible for government to formulate policy to regulate it, vote for money to buy in excess for storage, impose high tariff and mandate relevant committees and traditional rulers to embark on sensitisation of the farmers.
After summing up, the Speaker directed the Clerk to the House to communicate the resolutions of the Honourable Members to the executive arm for necessary action.
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