Farmers in the agrarian state of Benue are struggling to cope financially as prices of food commodities continue to slide downward. Though renowned for food production, there is hardly any mechanised farming in the state, as most of the farmers are peasants who depend on subsistence farming for their livelihood.

While consumers rejoice at the fall in the prices of food crops, peasant farmers in the state are unhappy as inputs and the general cost of food production remain high.

A peasant farmer, Tarchagh Orokaa, told The Guardian that the Federal Government took deliberate steps to crash prices of food items without putting in place a corresponding cushion for farmers. He lamented that the cost of producing crops now far outweighs the market value of such crops, thus throwing farmers into a financial crisis.

The Guardian findings revealed that a bag of fertiliser sold in the open market during the planting season costs between N35,000 and N50,000, depending on the brand, while a bag of paddy rice is now selling for between 27,000 and 30,000 naira in the

Another farmer, Mr Anyuenge Swem, said while the federal government had imported food items, especially cereals, to crash food prices, it had not attended to the main inflation markers like the pump price of PMS and the toll on transportation, which greatly impacts the general cost of goods.

A cross-section of farmers expressed frustration with the system. Many said that while it is okay for the prices of food items to come down, limiting the control of prices to only food items without considering the plight of the farmers isunfair.

The morale of most farmers addressed is low. Many who have alternative means of survival said they would not engage in farming next year to avert more losses.