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Recent findings by ActionAid Nigeria has revealed that each of the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory loses an estimated N94.5 billion yearly to post-harvest losses.
According to the body, if the N3.5 trillion lost to post-harvest losses by the entire country is divided across the 36 states and the FCT, it will show that a whooping N94.5 billion is lost to the menace.
ActionAid Nigeria, which regretted this amount lost to post harvest losses, said it is far more than each state’s yearly agriculture budgetary allocations and spending, saying this also means that 50 per cent of production is lost to post-harvest losses as well as 50 per cent income losses for smallholder farmers despite still facing numerous challenges.
The body at a press conference, yesterday in Abuja, organised in collaboration with the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), and the CAADP Non-State Actors Group (CNG) on Post-Harvest Losses Reduction, noted that if nothing is done urgently, Nigeria cannot achieve food and nutrition security.
The organisations in a press statement, read by representatives of SWOFON, Wakilat Oneji and Ogedengbe Elizabeth and Policy Advisor Manager, One Campaign, Rasaq Fatai, revealed that statistics has put access to processing facilities by Smallholder Women Farmers at 26 per cent, only 18 per cent of them have access to storage facilities, 10 per cent of them have access to transportation, 21per cent have access to market and 39 per cent of them have access to trainings to reduce post-harvest losses.
They stressed that with the declaration of State of Emergency by President Bola Tinubu, one of the quick wins for food and nutrition security is for the government to focus on reducing post-harvest losses.
The women farmers stated: “Post-harvest losses are one of the foremost challenges faced by smallholder farmers, especially women in communities in Nigeria. It devastates our efforts and incomes, leaving us poorer and continues to hinder Nigeria’s food and nutrition security.”
The groups however, stressed the need to rethink approaches in agriculture and rural infrastructures by deliberately investing in the agriculture sector, saying the President and the state governors should take charge of the agriculture sector to ensure food and nutrition security by orchestrating deliberate massive investments especially in post-harvest losses reduction.
They also called on the Federal and State Governments to concentrate on small cottage processing and storage facilities in communities based on different commodities to be owned, operated, sustained, and expanded by smallholder women farmers’ cooperatives.
According to them, if the Federal and State Governments concentrate efforts on dealing with post-harvest losses, they will be better positioned to raise their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and contribute significantly to the growth of the economy.
The groups maintained that the small cottage processing and storage facilities in communities, focused on various commodities, should be an effective approach to reducing post-harvest losses, especially in remote areas as the larger Staple Crops Agro Processing Zones (SCPZ) will not serve them.
