Despite claims of massive support to farmers by the federal government under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), peasant farmers are being short-changed in the intervention scheme.

This observation was made at the sixth Kwara National Agric Show, a five-day exhibition of Agricultural Equipment, Foods and Agrochemicals organised by Exhibition and Fairs Limited where over 500 companies and organisations showcased their equipment to the public.

The agric show could not have come at a more auspicious time than now when the nation was confronted with the sharp fall in oil revenue, necessitating the need to diversify the economy and prepare for any shock arising from the dwindling oil revenue.

The exhibition was therefore an opportunity for organisers and participants to assess the federal government's Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and its impact on grassroots farmers.

It was an avenue to inculcate agricultural norms on the younger ones as secondary school students were invited to the exhibition.

According to Kwara State Coordinator of Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Prince Ajisefini Ayodeji, the agricultural transformation agenda has not impacted on the local farmers.

"When you are talking of agricultural transformation, you are referring to commercial farmers or the local farmers that we have in this country. Take Kwara State as a case study, how many commercial farmers do we have? There is a statistics that says that we have 28 commercial farmers in this state. What is their effect on the economy of the state, are they feeding the local people?

"If we want to do agricultural transformation in the real sense of it, let's come back to the local people. Commercial farmers have more resources to engage in mechanised farming but the local farmers have no resources."

He said it was regrettable that many rural farmers still used hoes and cutlasses to farm their land, adding: "Go to Asa local government, for instance, you would see peasant farmers still working with their hoes and cutlasses. Their cassava is down there, they find it difficult to get chemical to spray their farm and these are the people that are feeding the country, feeding the local people, feeding our president, our governors, our senators and so on. Sincerely speaking, the transformation agenda of the federal government has no impact on the local farmers. The only people benefiting are the commercial farmers who are already made."

The entrepreneur, however, advised that the best way to address the situation was to encourage each and every individual to go to farm.

He said it was high time the government changed the orientation of youth, lamenting that many youth failed to see the hidden potentials in agriculture. The agro entrepreneur said NASME would introduce a programme, "Be your own boss", which would seek to train 200 youths, every six months, on agriculture.

Ayodeji said: "Why we are focusing on agriculture is that oil is no longer available, federal government is now advising us to go back to farm and Kwara State has a very good advantage of doing that. It is good for us to quickly take advantage of that to make our people see that their future is in their hands.

Whether you are a banker, medical doctor or lawyer, you end up on farm.

"And we have a lot of virgin land in Kwara State lying fallow. Why don't we make use of it so that we can contribute significantly to the development of our economy in the state?

"What we are doing at our association level is to change the orientation of our youth. Let the youth see why they need to engage in agriculture. Agric of nowadays is no longer like hoes and cutlasses, we have mechanised farming. What we normally encourage youth to do now is to start from a small-scale agric project, not a long term one. So that they would say, 'yes, I invested N100, 000 from a microfinance bank' so that in another two months, that N100, 000 would have increased to maybe N150, 000."

Mr. Mobolaji Atunse, chairman, organising committee of the fair, said government used to budget millions of naira to agriculture yet the impact of the funding was not felt by local farmers.

"It is like they have some people upstairs that they share this money with, it is not really distributed to the local farmers. The impact is not being felt in the grassroots. That is why we are bringing this agriculture up to show the world that the local farmers exist and they need help."

Atunse explained that the agric exhibition would showcase the potentials of the state in agriculture, saying the state should be able to tap from its enormous agricultural potentials for sustainable food security and economic growth.

"Virtually all Kwara State lands are good for every crop that you can plant. You know in some states, they would say this kind of crop cannot grow here.

Everything can grow in Kwara State, we have that advantage and the whole world knows that for cassava production, cotton, maize, a lot of things in Kwara. It is now left for us to tap, that is why we are shouting that we should tap the potential in Kwara State."

While declaring open the show, the Commissioner for Agriculture and National Resources, Barrister Kayode Towoju, assured that the state government would continue to boost agriculture to create employment to the teeming populace. Towoju, who lamented the danger posed to the Nigerian economy by the dwindling oil revenues, said greater emphasis must be placed on agriculture to boost the country's economy.

Towoju added that the large expanse of land across the state was suitable for cultivating different kinds of food and cash crops like cassava, sugar cane, soya bean, cowpea, maize, yam, rice, cashew, cocoa etc capable of providing raw materials for agro–allied industries and improving the socio- economic status of farmers and all value chain players in the sector.