BY PETER DURU

Bothered by the steady decline in food production across the country, the Agricultural and Allied Employees’ Union of Nigeria, AAEUN, has implored financial institutions, federal and state governments to introduce interest free loans for farmers in order to help them battle the looming food crisis in the country.

This was part of the resolutions that was reached last week by AAEUN and jointly signed by its National President, Comrade Simon Anchaver and General Secretary, Comrade Sunday Aitokhuehi at the end of the union’s National Executive Council meeting held in Makurdi.

File Photo

The union maintained that “if this incentive is introduced, it will encourage farmers and also engender massive agricultural yield and avert food shortages in the country”.

They also urged the “Minister of Agriculture to throw his weight behind the agric workers in their agitation for occupational hazard allowance in order to further boost the their morale as they work to achieve the food  needs of Nigerians”.

While canvassing “greater support from the federal government for food producing states like Benue in order to boost their agricultural yields, AAEUN also commended the “moves by Federal Ministry of Agriculture to check activities of middlemen in the Nigerian Agricultural value chain.

They added that the “federal government should discourage the importation of food, especially rice, by imposing import duties on such commodities to discourage the patronage by over-zealous business shylocks within the Nigeria business community and their exploitative tendencies”.

The union maintained that Nigerian’s potentials to produce and export food to other countries was not in doubt adding that agricultural workers in Nigeria would not relent until that dream was realized.