Farmers with disabilities participating in the Federal Government and International Fund for Agricultural Development-assisted Value Chain Development Programme, VCDP, in Niger State have called for better guidance on planting periods and access to early-maturing crop varieties.
The call followed poor harvests during the 2026 farming season.
The farmers made the call during a feedback exercise on empowerment support provided to persons with disabilities under the programme in nine participating local government areas in the state.
Mohamed Abubakar Enagi, Chairman of the Niger State Farmers with Disabilities and the director representing farmers with disabilities under the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, said the group cultivated rice, maize, soybeans and cowpea but recorded varying harvest outcomes.
He said their rice crop, planted on about half a hectare, was badly affected by insufficient rainfall, leaving the farmers with little hope of a meaningful harvest.
Enagi said they had so far harvested more than nine bags of maize and eight bags of soybeans at the time of the exercise, while the cowpea was not yet ready for harvest.
He acknowledged that late planting also contributed to the poor outcome, explaining that the group began planting towards the end of May.
“We need guidance on the right time to plant and the type of seeds to use, especially early-maturing varieties, so that we can improve our harvest,” he said.
He identified the cost of labour as another challenge, explaining that farmers with disabilities often had to hire additional workers because they could not undertake all farm operations themselves. He added that some members had exhausted their resources and resorted to borrowing to continue farming.
The chairman said the group had received farm inputs and training through VCDP, but maintained that farmers needed more practical guidance to avoid losses in subsequent seasons.
The VCDP Rural Institution, Gender and Youth Officer in Niger State, Hajiya Maimuna Abubakar Ahmed, said 262 farmers with disabilities were listed in the programme’s database, with beneficiaries involved in different activities across the rice and cassava value chains.
She said the programme had a dedicated budget for supporting persons with disabilities and listed fertilisers, herbicides, protective equipment, farm inputs and processing machines among the items provided to beneficiaries.
Ahmed said the programme identified beneficiaries’ needs through business plans covering production, processing and marketing, while field visits were conducted to assess the support provided.
On access to weather information, she said VCDP sent advisories to farmers but some beneficiaries might not receive them because they had changed or lost their telephone numbers.
“The programme is updating its database to address the problem,” she said.
Ahmed acknowledged that inadequate rainfall had affected the farmers’ output, adding that some beneficiaries also planted late. She said the programme had been training farmers to consider production costs, expected returns and available resources before expanding their farms.