{"id":1895,"date":"2026-07-16T22:41:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=1895"},"modified":"2026-07-18T08:43:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:43:48","slug":"the-hidden-loss-how-post-harvest-waste-is-undermining-farmers-in-abraka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=1895","title":{"rendered":"THE HIDDEN LOSS: How Post-Harvest Waste Is Undermining Farmers in Abraka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Happiness Oghenemervueyana <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many farmers in Abraka, the harvest season is no longer a guaranteed reward for months of hard work. Instead, poor storage facilities, inadequate transportation, bad roads, and unreliable electricity are causing large quantities of farm produce to perish before reaching consumers, leaving farmers with heavy financial losses and threatening food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although agriculture remains the primary source of livelihood for millions of Nigerians, post-harvest losses continue to erode farmers’ incomes. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that about 1.3 billion tonnes of food are lost or wasted globally each year, representing nearly one-third of all food produced for human consumption. In communities such as Abraka, however, these losses are felt most directly by smallholder farmers whose livelihoods depend on every successful harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Ejiro Okotie, a tomato farmer and trader in Abraka, said between 30 and 40 percent of her produce is often lost before it can be sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Last rainy season, I brought 12 baskets of tomatoes to the market. By the third day, four baskets had become soft and watery, and I had no choice but to throw them away,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to her, poor road conditions and the absence of cold storage facilities are among the major causes of post-harvest losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When it rains, vehicles cannot enter the farms to transport our produce. We also don’t have cold rooms in Abraka Market. Even if we buy refrigerators, there is no reliable electricity,” she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Okotie said the losses have placed enormous financial pressure on her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Those tomatoes represent school fees for my children. Throwing away four baskets meant losing almost \u20a660,000. Last semester, my son nearly dropped out of school because I couldn’t recover the money I lost.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted that farmers are often compelled to increase food prices to offset their losses, a situation many consumers misunderstand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“People complain that food is expensive, but they don’t know that a large portion of what we harvest never gets to the market.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She urged the government to construct cold storage facilities, rehabilitate rural roads, establish food processing centres in Ethiope East Local Government Area, and train farmers on modern preservation techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another farmer, Mr. Ogheneovo Udu, who cultivates cassava, plantain, and yam in Abraka Farm Settlement, described post-harvest waste as one of the biggest challenges facing local agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he ventured into farming after completing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) because he could not secure paid employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to him, inadequate storage and unstable market prices continue to discourage farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Cassava must be processed into garri almost immediately after harvest, otherwise it begins to deteriorate. Plantain is also difficult because if market prices are low this week, the fruits become overripe by the next.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Udu recalled losing nearly \u20a6350,000 after harvesting about 150 bunches of plantain during the previous farming season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Everyone harvested at the same time, so prices crashed. I left some of the plantain on the farm, and after the rains came, everything spoiled. That money would have paid my house rent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He admitted that the experience nearly discouraged him from continuing in agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You work for months only to lose everything within a few days. Some times I think about leaving farming completely.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Udu also warned that decomposing agricultural produce contributes to environmental pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Rotten food attracts flies, creates health hazards, and releases gases into the atmosphere. It affects both the environment and the people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He called on government agencies to provide processing equipment, establish farmers’ cooperatives, improve access to soft loans, and simplify the procedures required to obtain financial assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experiences of both farmers highlight the wider consequences of post-harvest losses. Economically, farmers lose significant income that could otherwise support their families, pay school fees, or expand their businesses. Reduced food reaching the market also contributes to rising food prices, placing additional pressure on consumers. Environmentally, wasted food contributes to methane emissions while squandering the land, water, fertilizer, and labour invested in production. Socially, repeated losses discourage young people from pursuing agriculture despite the sector’s importance to national food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agricultural experts maintain that reducing post-harvest losses requires coordinated investment in storage facilities, rural road infrastructure, electricity, processing centres, farmer education, and cooperative marketing systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For farmers like Mrs. Okotie and Mr. Udu, the challenge extends far beyond growing food. Until effective measures are introduced to preserve harvested produce and improve market access, much of their hard work will continue to rot before it reaches consumers, threatening livelihoods and food security across communities like Abraka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Happiness Oghenemervueyana For many farmers in Abraka, the harvest season is no longer a guaranteed reward for months of hard work. Instead, poor storage facilities, inadequate transportation, bad roads, and unreliable electricity are causing large quantities of farm produce to perish before reaching consumers, leaving farmers with heavy financial losses and threatening food security. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":10,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[31,66,233],"class_list":["post-1895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abrakametro","category-trendingnews","tag-abraka","tag-agriculture","tag-farming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1895"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2067,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions\/2067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}