Benue State is often hailed as Nigeria’s “Food Basket of the Nation,” but the farmers who work tirelessly to uphold that title are among the most exploited in the agricultural sector. From the rising costs of farm inputs to the sale of their harvested crops, these farmers face a web of middlemen, illegal fees, unfair market practices, and steep transportation costs that rob them of the true value of their hard work.
One of the most troubling aspects of this situation is the prevalence of non-farming middlemen, commonly referred to as Belanda, who dominate market sheds and dictate prices to buyers. Take a yam farmer, for instance: after months of preparing the land, purchasing inputs, planting, weeding, and finally harvesting, they transport their produce to the market, incurring significant costs along the way. Yet, when they arrive, their yams are placed under a shed owned by someone who hasn’t lifted a finger to grow a single tuber. This shed owner then negotiates the sale and can pocket as much as Five Thousand Naira (N5,000.00) for every 100 tubers sold. Whether it’s labelled as a commission or a service charge, it’s money taken from the farmer’s hard-earned labour and handed over to someone who took none of the risks involved in production.
The exploitation starts long before the produce even reaches the market. Farmers and transporters are burdened with multiple payments at revenue collection points and checkpoints along major roads. These fees, often disguised under various names, significantly inflate transportation costs. By the time the produce arrives at its destination, these added expenses have already chipped away at the farmer’s profits, making Benue’s produce less competitive, even though it comes from one of Nigeria’s most fertile agricultural regions.
One particularly troubling practice is the operation of what’s known as “shakers.” Imagine a farmer showing up with three bags of produce, only to have the contents “shaken” or repackaged into two bags. This sneaky move effectively cuts down the number of bags being sold, leaving the farmer with a hidden loss. Meanwhile, those orchestrating this process are getting paid, while many suspect the whole setup is designed to shortchange producers. Such tactics have no place in a fair and transparent agricultural market.
Farmers also face another subtle but effective form of exploitation through deliberate delays in the buying process. Buyers often refuse to negotiate early, waiting until late in the day when farmers are tired, anxious to return home and unwilling to transport unsold produce back to their villages. With few alternatives, many farmers are compelled to accept prices far below the true market value of their harvests. It is a calculated strategy that weakens the bargaining position of producers while enriching buyers.
The economics of transport further highlight the unfairness in the system. For instance, transporting goods from Kano to Benue reportedly costs around One Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N1.2m), but moving produce from Benue to Kano can set you back over Three Million Naira (N3m). This massive difference raises serious questions about who really benefits from this gap and why the burden seems to fall almost entirely on those transporting agricultural goods out of Benue. When you factor in illegal fees and market deductions, it’s clear that the farmer is the one who ends up paying the price.
The rising costs of production have turned the situation into a real crisis. Some herbicides are now priced at a staggering Seventeen Thousand Five Hundred Naira (N17,500.00) per litre, which means that treating just one hectare of farmland could set farmers back more than Eighty Thousand Naira (N80,000.00). On top of that, the prices for fertilizers, pesticides, labour, and transportation have all skyrocketed, while the prices farmers get for their crops keep dropping. This is an unsustainable predicament that not only discourages production but also jeopardises the agricultural future of the state.
It must be acknowledged that the Benue State Government has a crucial role to play in safeguarding those who feed the nation. It needs to enforce standardised weights and measures in all produce markets, put an end to the exploitative practices of the so-called shakers, regulate the activities of middlemen known as Belanda, and eliminate illegal taxes and multiple revenue collection points on roads throughout the state. Ensuring market transparency should be a top priority.
While it’s essential to support farmers with better seedlings, fertilizers, and mechanisation, protecting them from exploitation is just as vital. Benue can’t truly call itself Nigeria’s Food Basket if those who work the land are being taken advantage of at nearly every step of the marketing process.
For agriculture to continue being the backbone of the state’s economy, fairness, transparency, and justice must be the cornerstones of its produce markets.
