When my paternal grandma died, and a date was fixed for her funeral, preparations began. In this part of the world, especially in my tribe, one important aspect of such ceremonies is the aspect of food and refreshments. It's taken very seriously. That's because when people travel from near and far to sympathize with you, offering them a little something is the least you could do to appreciate them. And for someone like my grandma, who lived over a hundred years, it is considered a ceremony.
So, my parents traveled down to the village to begin putting things in order. One thing they complained of, which should otherwise be the last thing they had to worry about, particularly due to their location, was the lack of cassava. Cassava for making garri and fufu. Predominantly, people in rural areas are mostly farmers but in this case, it seemed two things, people in the village were living for cities in search for better jobs and the ones who stayed back cared little to till the soil. Do you even know that garri is sold almost at same price as it's sold in big cities?
Well, it came as a surprise to me, too. We had to buy the garri and fufu at very high prices.
Thing is, farming is an occupation that is overlooked and not given reverence enough. It is seen as one reserved for the poor. I'd have to use "was" here now, because I think we're beginning to give it it's flowers. Last year, people over here did lots of Agricultural storage and there were a number of people who were invested in the trade and speaking of it very well.
I personally used to think of the occupation with disdain but guess who's excited to plant on every small portion of land and looks forward to going into large scale farming?
Food is a basic need for life. It's only unfortunate that the cost of purchasing it is really high that people struggle to fill their bellies. Nowadays, you go to the market with some supposedly big amount of money only to return with a miserly with very few things.
The problems with food production is nothing that cannot be resolved but for indifference and lack of attention to that aspect of the economy.
First, there's the issue of the reducing numbers of lands for planting.
Everywhere you turn, trees are being fell and structures are erected. We're left with a teeming population and small portions of land to farm on and feed the entire populace from. It's increasingly difficult to practice shifting cultivation because if we had to do so, then food production would drastically reduce resulting in scarcity but then, there's still the effect of infertility that likely occurs due to overworking the land.
Second, there's the issue of lack of amenities.
With the population that requires food daily, it's no longer possible to practice manual labour as it may yield little. But even with this knowledge, we lack good, working machineries to FastTrack the farming work.
Third, there is the lack of incentives and encouragements.
Farmers are not given credit enough. Food production is no easy work but the result is usually uplifting. If only those who engage in the trade are given incentives to boost their morales, they'd put in more effort and others too would be motivated to join in.
Then, there's the lack of transport facilities.
After harvesting is done, there's the issue of the lack of good transportation systems to convey these foods to the markets. In this part of the world, a region is mostly incapable of producing every foodstuff. For example, beans, tomato, potato and veggies are mostly grown in the North because they have better soil for it. Now, the journey from the North to the South could take two days. Knowing that some of these produces are perishable, if we factor in bad roads and distance, before the goods arrive, a big portion of it may have gone bad leading to waste and less products available to people. It's about time that there was facilities that could convey these goods and keep them just in same state as they were harvested until they got to the consumers.
If we all neglect this part of our economy, then with a growing population as we have, there'll be so much hunger and scarcity.
Improved attention to the trade and proferring solutions to the above listed problems is a step in the right direction to improving the situation and ensuring that food is available in quantity and quality to all.
Thanks for gracing this post.
Greetings!
