Delicate balance

Editorial

The economic dimension of COVID-19 is dire.  Lockdowns and curfews, all aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus, have significantly slowed down economic activity, in the urban centres.

The rural areas, and bastion of Nigerian farming as they are elsewhere, are also getting seriously hit, thus hinting at a possible less-than-stellar story at harvest time, going by testimonies by some farmers in different parts of Enugu State.  That could well be representative of a national challenge.

That could be bad news for food security, except the government somewhat works out some healthy balance: between the necessity of COVID-19 lockdowns, and farmers’ imperative to maximise the January-June yam-planting window.

From the farmers’ complaints, the main problem would appear transportation and linkages.  Ozor Nnamani, farmer and community leader in Amaagunze, in the Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, yearly cultivates five to 10 hectares of yam, between January and early April.  This year, however, he has not done up to two hectares.  His main challenge has been transporting enough farm workers to the farm, no thanks to the COVID-19 lockdown.

Even in communities where farmlands are well-integrated, such that natives and residents seldom use commercial auto shuttles to the farm and back, it is a big challenge of linkage: fertilizers, yam seedlings and sundry inputs, which the COVID-19 lockdown has shuttered. The “government” Nnamani pleads, “should quickly do something at least to mobilise farmers.  When we talk of relief materials, it is not only to give out food — maybe to the indigent ones and low-income earners — but we also need to mobilise farmers so that they can go to the farms.”

That sounds like a reasonable, even if surprising, counsel.  Reasonable, because it is the sane path to travel.  No matter what happens, food security is key.  That is especially so, because it speaks to the prime policy of the Buhari Presidency: grow what you eat, and eat what you grow! That should be emphasised, even more right now, with the negative effect of COVID-19 on the economy.

But surprising, because all through his COVID-19 addresses, the president gave the impression that farming, being largely rural, would suffer far less disruption, than other sectors, domiciled either at the urban centres, or their suburbs.  The Enugu complaints negate all those assumptions.  That calls for some fresh thinking, particularly for yam cultivation, since unlike cassava, for instance, the farming window is fixed and restricted.

So, as the governors lock down to protect the people from cropping COVID-19, they should also arm themselves with sensitive eyes to ensure crop cultivation are not impaired  — in any case, more than necessary.  Therefore, they should birth specific policies that protect farmers’ movement, subject of course, to stringent COVID-19 movement and public conduct protocols.  That is imperative to preserve the food chain and enhance food security, long after COVID-19 is gone.

So, making maximal use of local government chairs and councillors, the government should cross-fertilize with farmers’ leaders, farming input and supplement providers, and sundry stakeholders in the food and agriculture chain, to work out practical steps to protect farmers like the rest of the population, yet avail them, in real terms, the status of emergency workers.   That is important, if coronavirus, even after exiting, would not have birthed a structural but preventable “hunger virus”.

Still, until that policy is worked out and effectively implemented, farmers are advised to stay home and survive, than go out and be infected.  They should rather be patient than be COVID-19 patients — or worse, end up as possible mortality statistics, even if the virus is not an automatic death sentence.

The prime exigency right now is to stay alive.  There are more farming seasons to come — and only the living would partake in them.