By Justina ASISHANA

GOVERNOR Mohammed Umaru Bago’s administration pledged to transform Niger state’s agricultural sector, promising subsidies and support to all farmers. But for people with disabilities who are into farming, these promises are far from reality. They continue to suffer exclusion from vital aids, stigmatisation and logistical barriers. Justina Asishana who spoke to farmers living with disabilities in Kontagora, Gbako, Lavun and Wushishi LGAs reports that these farmers are neglected and denied government support in a region heavily reliant on agriculture for survival.

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 continues 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 brought hope for her and others.

However, reality betrayed them as their dreams of equitable access to agricultural resources have continually revealed a systemic oversight that leaves farmers with disabilities behind.

“I really thought we would have a different experience this time but it seems as if it 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 cultivates groundnut, guinea corn, millet and melon on her one-hectare farm, can only plant what she and her family of four would eat without going to buy these produce in the market. Sometimes when the yield is good, she had little to sell in order to buy some essential she needs at home.

“Since my accident, I cannot work like before. Before then, I could do everything on my farm; from weeding, clearing to planting and harvesting, but now it is different.

“I can only get people, show them what i need to be done and watch to ensure they are doing the work.”

Although she needs labourers, she often does not have the money to hire them and in other cases, when she plants, she does not get the expected yield because there are no agricultural inputs to boost the crops.

Cost of labour climbs

Sussanah said for the 2024 wet season farming, the labourers are charging between N30,000 to N35,000 unlike the past where she paid between N10,000 to N20,000 whenever she has the resources.

Her predicament is shared by many disabled farmers across Niger state who feel excluded from government agricultural support programmes.

A visually impaired farmer in Kontagora, Hafsatu Sani, has continued cultivating maize and guinea corn on her one-hectare farm with the help of her son, Ahmed despite never benefiting from state subsidies.

“I cannot do without farming which I have been into for the past 25 years. Before I became blind, I was farming and even when I lost my sight I continued farming.

“I have not benefited from any of the state government’s agricultural interventions, whether subsidised or free. Yes, I hear that they share these inputs.

“We hear that they will bring it to the local government area but when it comes, we do not know when and they just share it among themselves.”

Despite the Niger state government’s claims of providing substantial support to farmers through subsidised inputs which include fertiliser, herbicides, insecticides and seedlings and machinery which include power tillers, knapsacks, tractors, threshers, farmers with disabilities like Susannah and Hafsatu are left out.

In July 2023, Bago flagged off the 2023 wet season sales and distribution of subsidised fertilisers and other agricultural inputs to farmers across the state. 180,000 bags of fertilisers were expected to be sold at a 20 per cent subsidy.

Each bag of the commodity 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.

The previous governments claimed to have spent millions of naira on subsidised agricultural inputs and machinery but while considerations are given to abled people, these initiatives have hardly reached the most vulnerable farmers.

There is no special provision or consideration for farmers with disabilities in Niger state. This much was confirmed by the permanent secretary Ministry of Agriculture, Mathew Ahmed, who said  there is no specific policy targeted at them.

However, he promised that the state government was planning to make provisions for them in its agricultural programmes and policies.

The neglected workforce

In Nigeria, where over 75 per cent of households engage in agriculture, people with disabilities (PWDs) are often overlooked. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one billion people are living with disabilities in low-and middle-income countries, with 25 million Nigerians among 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. This is common in northern Nigeria where most of the households are involved in agriculture and related activities.

Dearth of data

The Niger state coordinator of the Small Holder Women Farmers Association of Nigeria (SWOFON), 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 farmers with  PWDs 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, make queries 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 per cent 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 beg to buy inputs for our farms

A leader of the People With Disability in Kontagora, Ibrahim Magaji, 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 need to get labourers who will work on our farms. This is why we have to get labourers and pay them.  Before now, 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; I use the money and pay them.

“Though we do not get much from the farm for financial purposes, 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 for now.”

A rice farmer living with disablity in the Wushishi LGA, Murijanata Abdullahi, said that her challenge is having money to pay her labourers and buy inputs for her farming. This, she said, has made her resort to begging to bridge this gap.

“Sometimes, I beg to pay for what we do not have in the farm, especially machinery, seedlings and fertiliser. My children sometimes help but they cannot finish clearing and planting on the land which is why we need extra hands.”

Systemic exclusion and stigmatisation

Stigmatisation and systemic barriers prevent PWDs from accessing government support as the public still classifies them as beggars even when they are not.

Attempts to access subsidised agricultural inputs in some of the local governments are met with firm opposition as they are often put aside and end up not getting anything.

This development makes them weary 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 the agricultural input but people tend to see them as beggars and push them aside.

“The last distribution, I heard they brought it and I mobilised some of my executives so that we can go there and see what we can access for our members but when we got there, everyone started driving us away saying 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 never recognised us as farmers.

“They even mocked at us that those that are able do not 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 efforts they put in, adding that this has made them stop going to the grain distribution centres.

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 of getting it”, Jonathan Nuhu, a farmer living with disability in Gbako lamented.

For Larai Maidawa, she knows when they announce 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 stated.

Rising costs and persistent challenges

The soaring costs of agricultural inputs like seedlings, fertilisers, herbicides, and insecticides have exacerbated the challenges faced by disabled farmers.

Labourers who charged between N10,000 to 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.

Fertiliser which was between N25,000 to N30,000 per bag 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.

A rice and maize  farmer of  living with disability in Lavun, said he and other farmers usually hire a tractor from Jebba which normally takes N30,000 in the past years but for the tilling of the ground for farming this season, the owner of the tractor has told them that the rate is now 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.”

Manure to the rescue

A rice farmer in Wushishi, Murijanata Abdullahi,  has resorted to using manure instead of expensive fertilisers and depends on her children’s help to minimise labour costs. For seeds,  she does not buy because she saves some of her harvested seeds for planting.

She said, “As of last year, I brought fertiliser N1,000 per mudu (a measure) but now, it is N1,500. I don’t buy much because of the money. Other times, I send my children to find a way to get manure which we use to augment.”

Calls for inclusive support

Farmers with disabilities who spoke said their needs to include fertiliser, new improved seeds, insecticides, herbicides, pumping machines, knapsacks for spraying and funds 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 persons with disability in Kontagora said that the needs of his members 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 they can benefit rather than giving it to middlemen who would not allow them access.

“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. “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 abled 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,” he stated.

We would make provision for them – Niger government 

The permanent secretary ministry of Agriculture, Mathew Ahmed, acknowledged past oversights, saying that  disabled farmers have not been beneficiaries of government-subsidised agricultural inputs or favoured by 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 had 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 people living with disabilities, who are into agriculture and those who are not.

He said 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 some of them cant go into 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.”

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.

The managing director of the Niger State Agricultural and Mechanisation Development Agency (NAMDA), Muhammad Ali Baba said that the agency, whose mandate it is to enhance the capacity of the small holder farmers in the councils, has a programme for rural farmers which is cluster-based.

According to him there would be no discrimination on who is able or with disability. He urged the farmers with disability to organise themselves into groups to benefit from government programs and interventions.

“We will not discriminate among anyone. If they are in groups or clusters, they will equitably get what we are sharing with them,” he said.

This report republished from the Nation Newspaper was made possible with support from the International Budget Partnership (IBP), and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, (ICIR) under the Strengthening Public Accountability For Results and Knowledge (SPARK 2) project.