President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Alhaji Sheu Mudi, has disclosed plans of the association and its partners to provide 500,000 units of tricycles for farmers to aid the transportation of farm produce in the country.
He made this known when some representatives of Nigerian companies and their South Korean counterparts visited the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mustapha Shehuri, in Abuja stressing that the development would create direct and indirect jobs for over two million members of the association.
“This will empower youths and farmers to reduce stress and cost of transportation of produce and in turn reduce the cost of food items,” he said, adding that one of the association’s partners would establish tricycle assembly plants in the six geopolitical zones of the country to create employment opportunities for the country’s teeming youths.
Shehuri said the use of tricycles would ease the difficulties faced by smallholder farmers in the transportation of their produce, maintaining that the use of tricycles would ensure easy movement of food and agro-allied products and generate wealth for Nigerian farmers, The Trumpet gathered.
He said the Nigerian agricultural sector has huge potential to drive the country’s economy, adding that the Nigerian market was massive across value chains and that the use of tricycles would help Nigeria in food distribution, food sufficiency and export of agricultural produce.
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He appealed to the leadership of AFAN and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector to ensure that the tricycles on offer match the requirements of the small holder farmers.
“There is no point bringing in tricycles without inputs by the end-users: please, the small holder farmers must have inputs for the initiative to achieve its objectives and goals,” Shehuri stressed.
The minister urged the association to ensure that there is synergy between the federal, state and local governments in carrying out its programmes, adding: “There should be a robust collaboration between the three tiers of government and AFAN because all the relevant stakeholders must streamline policies and programmes to achieve food and nutrition security and boost the economy.”
