The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has appealed to various stakeholders saddled with the responsibility of ensuring peaceful elections to increase their efforts to guarantee peace during and after the 2019 elections.
The Vice President of AFAN, Chief Daniel Okafor made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday.
He said that without peace during and after the elections, farmers would not be able to go to their farms.
Okafor, who was speaking on Farmers’ 2019 expectations in the agriculture sector, noted that agriculture budget and inputs should be timely distributed to farmers to boost food production in 2019.
The vice president, who said that agriculture was time-bound, suggested the approval and release of agriculture budget between January and February to aid the implementation of agriculture projects.
He said that timely implementation of agriculture projects and activities would guarantee food security in the country in 2019.
“What we have noticed is that without peace and harmony, human beings cannot exist and farmers cannot go to the farms.
“We want peaceful elections as our first expectation from the government this year.
“The second is the farmers-herdsmen crisis. Government should look into it because it is going to the extreme and government can do more than they are doing.
“Inputs should be given to farmers and distributed on time and not when the farming season is over.
“Agriculture budget should be timely. It should be approved by January or February to enable the timely implementation of agricultural projects.
“I wish the government well this year but they should not joke with agriculture,’’ Okafor said. (NAN)