Amid the recent outcries by Nigerian farmers over losses recorded in food produce due to price crashes, the Federal Government and other stakeholders have been urged to build on the legacy of past agricultural programmes and desist from implementing projects in silos.

A Development Communications Strategist, Feyikemi Adurogbangba, while analysing the situation, expressed concern over the persistent cycle of challenges facing farmers despite multiple intervention programmes by government and development partners.

She  pointed out that despite improved practices and infrastructure, many farmers still face harvest-time price crashes, lack access to affordable storage at scale, and have limited ability to delay sales or negotiate favourable prices.

This, according to her, has resulted in high food prices for consumers, which often co-exist with financial losses for producers.

She identified recurring pressures such as rising input and transportation costs, volatile markets, harvest-time losses, and farmers’ reliance on price spikes in one crop to offset losses in others.

Adurogbangba decried the persistence of structural weaknesses in the agricultural system, noting that risk remains heavily concentrated at the farm level.

The communications specialist attributed the worsening situation to intensified macroeconomic pressures on food production, saying that over the past three to four years, farmers have faced sharp increase in input and fuel costs following subsidy removal, climate variability and flooding, as well as foreign exchange volatility affecting fertiliser, packaging and logistics.

She observed that these system-wide shocks have moved faster than programme gains could scale, thereby eroding many of the improvements achieved.

Adurogbangba further emphasised that while improving   productivity, storage and market information is essential they are insufficient without mechanisms that stabilise margins and distribute risk more equitably.

She called for coordinated stakeholder action at state and federal levels, a shift from pilot interventions to market-level stabilisation efforts, and deliberate measures to reduce farmers’ exposure to seasonal price crashes.

To achieve sustainable impact, she urged actors across the value chain to build on the foundation of past programmes instead of working in isolation or restarting efforts with every new initiative.

According to her, the crisis confronting farmers is persistent and will continue until risk is no longer borne by those least able to absorb it.