- …as govt schemes them out of new farming programme
- PWDs battle stigmatization, resort to begging to pay labourers employed on their farms
The Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago administration in Niger State pledged to transform the state’s agricultural sector, promising subsidies and support to all farmers. But for people with disabilities who are into farming in the state, the promises have yet to materialise. They are not only grappling with exclusion from vital aids, they are also facing stigmatization and logistical barriers. JUSTINA ASISHANA, who spoke to farmers with disabilities in Kontagora, Gbako, Lavun and Wushishi local government areas, sheds light on their frustrations.
On a small farm in Gubata community, Susannah Ndakogi, a farmer since her youth, tends to her groundnut and millet crops. Her life changed drastically a decade ago after an accident on the Mokwa-Bida Road led to the amputation of her left hand. With resilience, she continued farming but now relies heavily on hired help for tasks she once managed alone.
The promise of a new focus on agriculture by Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago’s administration had sparked hope for her and others like her. However, the reality could be better as their dreams of equitable access to agricultural resources continually reveal a systemic oversight that leaves farmers with disabilities behind.
“I really thought we would have a different experience this time, but it seems like things would still remain the same. Yes, we heard that there was a ceremony to flag off this distribution, but we did not hear or know when it got to our local government or the distributors who would be selling it,” she said.
Sussanah who farms groundnut, guinea corn, millet and melon on her one-hectare farm, can only cultivate what she and her family of four will eat without going to the market. Sometimes when the yield is good, however, she has a little to sell in order to buy some essential items she needs at home.
“With my accident, I am no longer able to work like before. Before the accident, I could do everything on my farm from weeding to clearing to planting and harvesting.
“Now it is different. I can only get people, show them what needs to be done and watch them to ensure they are doing the work.”
Although she needs labourers, she often does not have the money to pay them. And in other cases, when she plants, she does not get the expected yield because there are no agricultural inputs to be used to boost the yield. Sussanah says for the 2025 wet season farming, the labourers are charging between N30,000 and N35,000, unlike the past when she paid between N10,000 and N20,000 whenever she had the resources.
Like Sussanah, like others
Susannah’s struggle is shared by many disabled farmers across Niger State, who feel excluded from government agricultural support programmes.
Hafsatu Sani, a blind farmer in Kontagora, has continued to cultivate maize and guinea corn on her one-hectare farm with the help of her son, Ahmed, despite never benefiting from state subsidies.
She said: “I cannot do without farming. I have been farming for 25 years. Before I became blind, I was farming and even when I became blind, I continued farming and have not benefited from any of the state government’s agricultural interventions, whether subsidised or free.
“Yes, I hear that they share these inputs. But I have not benefited from any of it. We hear that they will bring it to the local government areas but when it comes, we do not know when and it is shared among themselves.”
Despite the Niger State Government’s claims of providing substantial support to farmers through subsidised inputs which include fertilizer, herbicides, insecticides, seedlings and machinery including power tillers, knapsacks, tractors and threshers, farmers with disabilities like Susannah and Hafsatu are left out.
In July 2023, Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago flagged off the 2023 wet season sales and distribution of subsidized fertilizers and other agricultural inputs to farmers across the state. About 180,000 bags of fertilizer were expected to be sold at 20 per cent subsidy with each bag of fertilizer sold at N18,000 instead of N24,000 or N30,000 as it was sold then. In January 2024, the governor also held the second phase of the distribution of agricultural inputs and farm tools to farmers and civil servants who were interested in going into farming.
Before the administration, the previous governments claimed to have spent millions of naira on subsidized agricultural inputs and machinery. But while considerations are given to able-bodied people, these initiatives have scarcely reached the most vulnerable farmers. There is no special provision or consideration for farmers with disabilities in Niger State.
That much was confirmed by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture, Mathew Ahmed, who said there is no specific policy targeted at them. He, however, quoted NAMDA as saying that the state government was planning to make provisions for them in its agricultural programmes and policies.
The invisible workforce
In Nigeria where over 75% of households engage in agriculture, people with disabilities (PWDs) are often overlooked. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that one billion people are living with disabilities in low and middle income countries, with 25 million Nigerians living with disabilities and about 3.5 million experiencing significant difficulties in daily functioning. Many of these individuals rely on agriculture for their livelihood, though there is no available data to state the livelihood of people living with disabilities doing farming in Nigeria, specifically in northern Nigeria where most of the households are involved in agriculture and related activities.
The Niger State Coordinator of the Smallholder Women Farmers Association of Nigeria (SWOFON), Mrs Grace Disa, said there is no available data of PWDs in agriculture in the state but stated that the Ministry of Agriculture has agreed to conduct a survey and compile data for PWDs in agriculture in the state to ensure they benefit from the state government’s programmes.
The Executive Director of the Quality Life for Persons with Special Needs Foundation, Abdulrahman Awal, also confirmed that there is no available data for people with disabilities in the state in any sector including agriculture. He said that when they need to get any person with disability or group, they go to the communities and make enquiries before they are directed to the people they need.
A report by LINKS, an organisation funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, highlights that many PWDs are involved in agriculture and agro-processing but face significant barriers. More than 90% of PWDs are not part of any agricultural cooperative, limiting their access to networks, information and opportunities such as benefiting from subsidised farm inputs and machinery.
‘We still beg to get money to buy inputs for our farms’
Ibrahim Magaji, a leader of the People With Disability in Kontagora, described how they often resort to begging to afford agricultural inputs and labour as most often, their children are not available to work on the farm.
“Most times, our children go out to work so that they will get some money and we will need to get labourers who will work on our farms. This is why we have to get labourers and pay the labourers. Before, they charged between N10,000 to N15,000, but now they are saying it is from N20,000 to N30,000. So when we beg, we use the money to pay them.
“Though we do not get much from the farm financially, what we harvest is usually enough for us to eat as a family for a long while. If you know the price of food in the market now, you will know that having food in our houses is very important for us.”
Murijanata Abdullahi, a physically challenged rice farmer in Wushishi LGA, said her challenge is having money to pay the labourers who work for her and buy inputs for her farming. This has made her resort to begging to bridge this gap.
“Sometimes I beg for money to pay for what we do not have in the farm, especially machinery, seedlings and fertilizer. My children sometimes help but they cannot finish clearing and planting on the land, which is why we need extra hands.”
PWDs battle systemic exclusion, stigmatization
Stigmatization and systemic barriers prevent PWDs from accessing government support as the public still classifies them as beggars even when they are not begging. Attempts to access subsidised agricultural inputs in some of the local government areas are met with stiff opposition as they are often put aside and end up not getting anything. This development makes them wary of going to the distribution centres or locations, to avoid harassment and humiliation.
Magaji, who farms maize and guinea corn, said that he often goes to the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) office when he hears that they are sharing agricultural inputs, but people tend to see them as beggars and push them aside.
He said: “During the last distribution, I heard they brought inputs and I mobilized some of my executives so that we could go there and see what we could access for our members. But when we got there, everyone there started driving us away, saying that it was not a place for beggars. When we told them that we were farmers and also came to benefit from it, they told us to stay in a corner. They have never recognised us as farmers.
“They even laughed at us that those that are abled are not able to get it despite their struggles, then what hope do we have of getting it. When we returned there the next day, they chased us away”, Magaji stated.
Similar sentiments are echoed by Mohammed Kutigi, the Chairman of the Association of People with Disability in Lavun. He emphasised that they are rarely allowed to register to benefit from such inputs despite the efforts they put in, adding that this has made them to stop going to the grain distribution centres.
But Larai Maidawa in Wushishi, Jonathan Nuhu in Gbako and Dagaci Ladan in Lavun LGAs said they are not even aware of where and when the distribution takes place, not to talk about going there to get it.
Dagaci Ladan said: “In Doko here, we do not even know where they share it. Yes, often, we see them carrying it from somewhere, but we do not get the information as to when and where the distribution takes place. It seems it is only those high-class people who get the information.”
“I have never benefited from government-subsidised inputs. I do not even hear about it, talk less getting it,” Jonathan Nuhu, a physically-challenged farmer of groundnut and melon in Gbako, lamented.
For Larai Maidawa, she knows when they announce about the grains but would not go there because of fear. “I don’t know if I will be given or answered if I go there. So I do not even stop there at all,” she said.
Rising costs and persistent challenges
The soaring costs of agriculstural inputs like seedlings, fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides have exacerbated the challenges faced by disabled farmers. Fertilizer prices have doubled, and the cost of hiring labour has increased significantly, making it difficult for farmers with disabilities to afford even basic agricultural operations.
Labourers who charged between N10,000 and N15,000 in the past now charge between N20,000 to N40,000, depending on the size of the farm and the type of work that would be done. Fertilizer, which was between N25,000 to N30,000 in January, now costs between N43,000 to N50,000. A bag of seedlings which cost N30,000 earlier in the year is now sold between N35,000 to N50,000.
Mohammed Usman, a physically challenged farmer of rice and maize in Lavun, said he and other farmers usually hire a tractor from Jebba which normally takes N30,000 in the past. But for the tilling of the ground for farming this season, the person who gives out the tractor for rent has told them that the new rate is N150,000.
“We were told that the reason for the high price is due to the increase in fuel price which the tractor would use as transportation to Lavun to carry out the farming activity,” he said.
Murijanata Abdullahi, a rice farmer in Wushishi, has resorted to using manure instead of expensive fertilizers and depends on her children’s help to minimise labour costs while for seeds, she does not buy because she saves some of her harvested seeds for planting.
“As of last year, I brought fertilizer for N1,000 per mudu (a measure), but now it is N1,500. I don’t buy much because of the money. So other times, I send my children to find a way to get manure which we use to augment.”
Calls for inclusive support
The needs of farmers with disabilities who spoke to our reporter include fertilizer, new improved seeds, insecticides, herbicides, pumping machines, knapsacks for spraying and funds to enable them to pay for labourers. These farmers are calling for direct and inclusive support from the government. They suggest that resources be allocated directly to their associations to ensure fair distribution.
The Chairman of the People with Disability in Kontagora said that the needs of people with disabilities who are into farming are very similar, adding that if the government wants to help, they will need to meet them as groups so that their members can benefit, rather than giving it to middlemen who would not allow them to benefit.
“As the Chairman, I know all the people with disabilities, and if the government can send in these inputs to the association, we will ensure that our members get them.
“The government should come to us as a group. We are real farmers and our disability is not a disadvantage. If these inputs are available for us, we will upgrade our farming.
“The government needs to reach out to us directly,” he said.
Kutigi also alluded to the same solution for them, saying: “We hear of these distributions, but they do not come to us. If the government is sincere, they should give it to us as groups so that we will share it amongst ourselves.
“The able-bodied people will not allow us to access these things. They should have our package differently so that we won’t go and struggle with others.”
Our administration would make provision for them – Niger Govt
The Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture, Mathew Ahmed, acknowledged past oversights, saying that the people with disabilities who are into farming have not been beneficiaries of government-subsidized agricultural inputs or favoured by government agricultural policies in the past because they were not recognised.
“The government had not been looking into how they should be assisted. The previous government probably still has this idea that people with disabilities would only want to beg,” he said.
Ahmed, however, expressed the current administration’s commitment to inclusive policies, adding that it is working to involve the people with disabilities, both those who are into agriculture and those who are not in agriculture, as plans are underway to take their census and provide them with free and subsidised inputs through their association to enable them engage in large scale farming.
“The government is also looking at how to provide some of them with processing machines like rice mills so that there can be some of them in processing. We are also making plans to provide them with simple friendly equipment that they can use both for farming and processing agricultural produce.
“Another plan of the government is to encourage them to go into greenhouse crop production because it will be less stressful and greenhouse crops are high yielding because they are grown under ambient conditions,” he said.
Ahmed further acknowledged the difficulties faced by the people with disabilities who are into farming, saying that this administration intends to ensure everyone benefits from their programmes and policies.
“We want to stop the mentality that people have about people with disabilities. The fact that they have a disability does not mean that they do not have capacity or their IQ is not high. Their IQs are very high and they are very intelligent people.
“So for those still begging, we will encourage them to stop by providing subsidies or giving them agricultural inputs when available. We are also making provisions for loans for anyone who needs it.
“This government is an all-inclusive government. We will ensure that they are well monitored and well supported and build their capacities.”
The Managing Director of the Niger State Agricultural and Mechanization Development Agency (NAMDA), Muhammad Ali Baba, said that the agency, whose mandate it is to enhance the capacity of the smallholder farmers in the councils, has a programme for rural farmers, which is cluster-based, and there would be no discrimination on who is able or with disability.
He urged the farmers with disabilities to organise themselves into groups to benefit from government programmes and interventions.
“We will not discriminate agaist anyone. If they are in groups or clusters, they will equitably get what we are sharing with them,” he said.
Looking Forward
As Niger State’s farmers with disabilities continue their fight for inclusion, the hope remains that the government’s promises will translate into tangible support. Until then, farmers like Susannah and Hafsatu persevere, embodying resilience and determination in the face of systemic challenges.
For now, the farms of Gubata, Kontagora and beyond remain a testament to their unyielding spirit and the need for a truly inclusive agricultural policy in Niger State.
.This report was made possible with support from the International Budget Partnership (IBP) under the ICIR Strengthening Public Accountability for Results and Knowledge (SPARK 2) Project.
