A Hungry Man, A Hungry Nation.

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Avatar for Pearlkel
3 years ago

Paul grew up in Cameroun with his aged father, he was the only child of his mother the second wife of the great cocoa farmer. He was an innocent young boy who follow after the footstep of his father, Mazi Maxwell. Mazi had married Obiageli when he was younger and together they had two children. A boy, Ifeanyi, and his sister Marcelina. Ifeanyi died in one of his trips back to Nigeria from Cameroun in the Atlantic ocean when their ship capsized.

Since Marcelina had been married out, mazi whose wife was too old to conceive, had to marry another woman, Paul's mother.

Mazi large cocoa farm is the attraction of many customers from far and near for cocoa seeds. And every year they make good sales of the farm produce. Paul learned all the gimmicks adopted in taking care of the cocoa farm, the seeds, and now to dry them before sales. Traders from Nigeria and other African countries come to buy spices and snails since they were available in large quantities here in Cameroun.

Paul started hunting snails which were popularly referred to as Congo Meat. The easiest way to attract snails out of their hiding place was to spread pineapple peels or ripe papaya under plantain trees. Paul adopted this method and caught a lot of snails for sale to the traders. Before you knew it, he became very rich as he joined other products like melon seeds (Egusi), Ogbono, Ugba (oil bean), and some special leaves like Atama, Uziza, and Ukazi to the number of his products.

His father's farm was large enough to make him relax but he decided to spread his tentacles to another source of income.

One day, a group of journalists came to the farm settlement to carry out a documentary on farm life and how products from the farm can add to the country's Gross National Product. Since most of the farmers are not educated, Paul was asked to represent the other farmers.

The journalists set their cameras and they rolled.

Good morning sir.

Paul replied:

Good morning to you.

Can we meet you.

I am Paul by name, a farmer, and loving it.

Would you like to tell us about your experience as a farmer?

Oh. Yeah.

Farming as you know is a traditional occupation. It is the first job of creation. Everyone is a farmer in one little way. Only that we give it more attention than the other.

I was born into farming and I decided to enlarge my coast in it. If well managed, farming can feed a nation.

Most of us in this farm settlement have children in the university studying one aspect of agriculture or the other. The purpose is to continue this farming business that many people look down to these days.

Our major plea to the government is to provide good road networks, electricity and pipe-borne water so that livestock farming can improve.

The interview ended and the journalist returned to the main city where they had come from. Few days later, investors started looking in to the farm settlement making different treaties to become stakeholders in the farm business.

As we speak, most of the wealth of nations like Belgium, Congo, Cameroun, even the USA made the largest part of their income through farming.

It is so unfortunate that the white-collar job has taken our first occupation from us. Many people depend on the market for the simplest things like vegetable, pepper and the likes. To rear local breed fowls is even going into extinction now.

Any nation that cannot feed her populace has failed. Food security is one of the first cores of coming together as a nation. It is rather too unwise to see that as a nation, we are still importing our major foods that we can turn our many forest to farmlands and begin to export such foods.

Aquatic life in our nation is just lying fallow. We import stockfish whereas we have it in large quantity between Igbokoda in Ondo state to the coast of Lagos. Is that we are too blind to see, or it is a case of a blind dog leading a blind horse?

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3 years ago

Comments

Can relate to most of the points here as this is happening in my country sadly too... farmers are not given importance and irresponsible leaders cannot stop eating (money).. it's only the lower incomes that are suffering :/

$ 0.03
3 years ago

It's so pathetic. Nearly half of the world suffers the same fate in the hands of an irresponsible government.

$ 0.00
3 years ago

Sir it's just sad especially for Nigeria the current issues of food scarcity as a result of farmers being killed in their farmland by herders is really disturbing and the government is doing nothing to protect the lives of farmers Farming needs to be treated respectfully like other popular occupation

$ 0.03
3 years ago

When a government is clueless as what we have, the result could be disastrous. The first reason why we belong to a nation as citizens is the protection of lives and property, when that objective cannot be ascertained, then the purpose of being a nation is forfeited.

Except we refer back to farming, human lives will be under continuous threats.

$ 0.00
3 years ago

I'm gonna share you my country situation that I think had the same situation on your country sir, here on Philippines we are located on tropical region which means its the best candidate to plant any crops specially rice, corn, wheat and many more. We have also vast land to be planted by any crops however our government still importing foreign goods and products coming different countries specially rice that comes from neighboring countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. Sad to say, farmers in my country got few attention from the government, there's a bill which gives disadvantage to farmers and people prefer to buy rice came from other country rather than buying own rice inside the country due to its expensiveness. As I know, corruption is still existing in branches of our government that's why I'm looking forward for the next president that will make this country success again.

$ 0.03
3 years ago

It is so tiring to see the leader putting their faces to sectors that will only benefit a few. I have read about Thailand 🇹🇭 rice plantation and how they export rice in metric tons, thereby making a lot of income in the process. That's what leadership is about. A leader is a parent to all the led. And he must find solution to hunger by ensuring food security. I think most world leaders think in the same way. It's just an unfortunate position we find ourselves.

$ 0.00
3 years ago

I think it's more than just a situation of blind leading blind. It's a mentality of laziness and waiting for easy way out.

$ 0.03
3 years ago

Indeed. Laziness on both the path of the leaders and the led. We should all go into farming and secure lives from hunger. There is too much hunger in the land.

$ 0.00
3 years ago

I didn't know about spreading the pineapple and lechoza shells to marry snails. It is unfortunate how such beautiful countries are suffering so much because of man.

$ 0.03
3 years ago

Spreading pineapple peels attracts snails. It is a method adopted by snail hunter to draw the snails out of their hiding places. Snails have a high sense of smell. When pineapple peels is dropped in a location, until it dries up, snails will tea e it from far places to feed.

$ 0.00
3 years ago

If I start to write what's on my mind, I will write a whole article in a comment. Farming is really good and I plan to atleast have a land for myself to farm in future

$ 0.03
3 years ago

I believe you. We have neglected the most paramount sector of our economy. Nations of the world have sojourned into what does not profit the pack but a few. It's time to wake up.

$ 0.00
3 years ago

I can testify to that I'm from Ondo state ilaje precisely and I knew igbokoda. I think is we the people that are the problem together with the leader

$ 0.03
3 years ago

It is another way to say everyone is a part of the problem. Perhaps, it would have been a better nation if we have taken responsibility to deliver.

$ 0.00
3 years ago

That's right

$ 0.00
3 years ago