Farmers, agro dealers cry out over illegal levies

This is actually not the best of times for farmers and Agro dealers in Lagos and Ogun States, as they are currently weighed down by the burden of illegal levies, which is negatively impacting their businesses.
 
They identified the Police, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) officials, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and Local Government officials, among others, as their albatross. 
   
Findings showed that several roadblocks are mounted on the Abeokuta-Lagos route, Ishaga/Oke Aro, Sango/Ifo, Epe route and Lagos/Ogun/Ibadan axis by government agencies who levy farmers arbitrarily and most times impound their vehicles if they fail to pay. 

“That’s why you sometimes find some selling with the discount of up to N1, 000, if they somehow avoid the levies, they can sell less. This happens on the Lagos/Ogun/Ibadan axis. The farther the distance, the higher the expenses. That’s why people avoid buying from far, it might be cheaper from source, but by the time you add transport, cost might not be workable.

“Another case is maize, which goes for as low as N10 per bunch at the farm, but gets to Lagos at about N40 to N50. Livestock is worse because delay can cause mortality and animals coming at N6, 000 can enter Lagos as high as N15, 000 after transport casualties and route levies.”

Speaking on its impact, Daramola said the development has increased transport time, increased cost of produce and has discouraged people who don’t have the confidence to stand up to the uniformed touts.

“Produce prices are often fixed by market, so when you think you have a good harvest and meet with these tax collectors, your profit starts reducing even before you get to the market. Personally, we once abandoned our mini bus of pig feed because the guys en route Oke Aro insisted it was a commercial bus using private number. They are fond of staying at bad spots, you almost wonder if they create the bad spots to slow cars down. Another point is sharp bends where they often jump out in front of vehicles, as if they are on suicidal mission and start claiming the driver was speeding.”

She appealed to government and other stakeholders to ensure that vehicles carrying agric produce should not be unduly delayed, except there is a good cause. “Expecting me to offload the car to find my can of extinguish is not a good cause.”

Bolade Collins, a fruit dealer told The Guardian that those who are not into the business couldn’t understand their challenges. “Transportation is the main issue with farmers, and large number of bread and buttered Nigerians will tell you to comply with the rules of FRSC road safety, VIO and police. When farmers come back to slam them with the price of commodities following high cost of transportation, they start abusing government, again claiming high cost of food stuffs.

“At every forum I attend and I am opportune to speak, I never miss talking about transportation. Imagine, transporting a carton of chicks is N1, 000 per carton and N500 for bulk order. The same thing goes with a bag of produce. If Nigerians think food is expensive, they don’t know anything, let them continue levying us for transporting crops and livestock, na consumer go pay.”