By Yinka Adegbite
December, 2024
The challenge of food insecurity in Nigeria is exacerbated by the nefarious activities of some middle-men. Farmers and smallholder processors bring food to the market only for powerful middle-men to purchase these goods at low price, at the expense of the farmers and sell it at an astronomical price to the buyers in the market.
There have been cases where farmers refuse to take their goods to the market because of this kind of situation. For the farmer to run a profitable practice, he must have access to friendly market where he call sell his goods for a fair profit, which would encourage the sustainability of his business. The key to the sustainability of the farming practices is market access; this is not only important to the farmers, but the potential buyers as well.
Atajere, a radio programme on Paramount FM 93.5 Abeokuta is geared towards intimating farmers and smallholder food processors as well as potential food buyers on the market days and venues of big markets where affordable food items can be purchased and farmers can sell their produce. It is a 5-minute programme that airs from Monday to Friday on Paramount FM 94.5, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. It offers the audience the opportunity to know all the major markets that will be operational during the week.
The programme, Atajere, is popular among farmers and food retailers in Ogun State. I receive many phone calls and text messages from people who miss the programme or wants more clarifications, they also express their appreciation for the programme.
Atajere airs between 5:55am and 6:00am so that people who want to go out to seek or buy food and agricultural produce can access useful information before setting out for their business.
I have been presenting and producing the programme for about since 2017, and interacting with the market women, Iyalojas (Market Heads), and other stakeholders has been an interesting experience. However, the fact-finding aspect of the programme consumes a lot of money, and at some point it was difficult to be consistent, hence there is need for funding or sponsorship in other to sustain the programme.
