By Theophilus Abbah and Daniel Adaji
While public attention on the COVID-19 pandemic has decreased, its impact on local farmers persists. Now farmers are struggling against heavy inflation to recover their businesses, attract customers, and regain their lost footing.
La’ah Dauda is the President of the Progressives’ Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society in Zamaru-Kataf. He has been farming since he was a youth, for over 45 years. What was a prosperous business — cultivating maize, soya beans, ginger, yam and guinea corn – has yet to recover financially.
Before the pandemic, Dauda’s farm was able to make a profit, and break even when there were bouts of inadequate rainfall. But when the pandemic broke out, state-mandated movement restrictions meant to limit the spread of COVID-19 also decreased access to farm labour and inputs.
He said,“Suppliers of agro-allied chemicals were restricted, so we didn’t have access to inputs for our farms. Even when we produced, we couldn’t…
