The Ojo Farmers Community in Lagos State has urged the government to provide shared irrigation and transportation facilities for farming clusters to boost food production.
The Chairperson of the community, Mrs Mariam Ali, made the call in an interview in Lagos.
Ali said high irrigation and transportation costs were limiting farmers’ ability to sustain production and move their produce directly to major markets.
She said farmers within the same cluster could jointly use pumping machines and share the cost of electricity and other operational expenses.
“We have a place inside the Lagos State University where four or five of us are farming together.
“If they give us a pumping machine with a direct source of electricity and a prepaid meter, everybody in the cluster can use it,” she said.
Ali said larger clusters could be provided with solar-powered pumping machines, while smaller clusters could use conventional pumps connected to reliable electricity. She added that watering cans could be provided where larger facilities were not feasible.
She said access to water was particularly important for vegetable farmers because many vegetables had short production cycles and required regular attention.
On transportation, Ali said many farmers had buyers for their produce but lacked affordable means of moving vegetables from farms to major markets.
“Because of transportation, I have people buying from me at Mile 12 and Mushin, but the major challenge I have is the means of transporting it,” she said.
Ali said she currently had more than 120 beds of shoko and other vegetables that could be sold if transportation was readily available.
She proposed that the government provide vans or other suitable vehicles to farming clusters under a leasing arrangement, with farmers paying for the service while the government retained ownership and monitored their use.
“If we have a van and we are in a cluster, I will know that it is available in the morning and quickly go and pick the produce for them,” she said.
Ali said affordable farm-to-market transport would encourage farmers to sell directly to traders, improve their earnings and reduce dependence on intermediaries.
She recalled that transportation challenges had affected some of her previous farming projects outside Ojo, including a watermelon project where difficulties moving produce after harvest contributed to its poor outcome.
Ali urged the government to include irrigation and farm transportation in agricultural support programmes, particularly for farming clusters producing vegetables for urban markets.
She also called for regular visits by agricultural liaison officers to identify challenges affecting farmers and urged authorities to consult farmers before designing interventions.
Ali said farmers were willing to contribute financially to maintaining shared facilities if the arrangements were properly managed.
She expressed optimism that improved irrigation, access to land, finance, machinery and transportation would help farmers increase food production in Lagos by giving them greater confidence that their produce could reach buyers on time.
