Farmers across Nigeria have warned that many producers may reduce cultivation or boycott the coming planting season due to soaring input costs and declining produce prices, industry leaders have said.
The National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Mohammed Magaji, said the widening gap between production expenses and market returns was discouraging farmers from going to the fields this year.
“Many farmers are already saying they may not plant this season because the cost of farming keeps rising while the prices of what they sell remain low,” he said.
“If this continues, it will have serious consequences for food supply and the economy.”
Magaji explained that fertiliser prices and other inputs had climbed sharply, leaving farmers unable to recover their investments after harvest.
“When you spend heavily on fertiliser, seeds and labour and later sell your produce at a much lower price, it means you are running at a loss,” he added. “No farmer can sustain that for long.”
He noted that he might drastically cut his own cultivation size this season because of the high production costs.
“I used to farm dozens of hectares, but this year I may reduce it significantly because the expenses are too high and the returns are uncertain,” he said.
