The Kaduna State Government says it will address the artificial scarcity created in the supply of fertilisers to farmers for the 2017 cropping season.
Dr Abdulkadir Kassim, the Permanent Secretary, State Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Development, said this on Thursday in Kaduna at the state Agricultural Core Delivery Team (CDT) meeting convened by Synergos Nigeria.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gov. Nasiru el-Rufai on June 13 launched fertiliser sales for the 2017 farming season in Saminaka Local Government Area.
He then assured the farmers that the fertilisers would be sold to them at a subsidised rate of N5, 500 per bag and that each smallholder farmer was entitled to four bags.
However, over 50 days after the event, many farmers have complained that they have yet to access the commodity, thereby raising fears of poor harvests at the end of the season.
However, the permanent secretary said that the state government was making concerted efforts to address what he described as artificial scarcity of fertilisers and ensure that farmers had direct access to the commodity.
Kassim blamed the scarcity on certain developments that cropped up after the state government’s agreement with private fertiliser suppliers to supply the commodity to farmers at the subsidised rate of N5, 500 per bag.
NAN recalls that the state government had announced at the beginning of the rainy season that it had procured 50,000 tonnes of assorted fertilisers for farmers through an arrangement with Flour Mills and TAK AGRO.
Farmers, however, complained that the commodity was not made available by the two companies which the state government engaged to supply the fertilisers to them.
In his response to a question at the meeting, Kassim said that the arrangement seemed to be working at first but the farmers and the suppliers allegedly later colluded to cause the artificial scarcity.
He said that farmers, who could not afford the four bags, colluded with the suppliers and sold the commodity back to the suppliers with N500 interest on each bag.
“Thus, the suppliers ended up buying most of the fertilisers from the farmers and thereby, created artificial scarcity of the commodity,’’ he said.
The permanent secretary, however, assured the farmers that fertiliser supplies would soon resume as the state government had been striving to address the matter.
On the issue of incorporating women farmers in the state’s budget line, Kassim said that the ministry already had a unit, “Woman In Agriculture’’, mandated to look into that particular issue.
He, however, said that women farmers should unite and form cooperatives and associations; while formulating practicable agricultural schemes.
Kassim expressed the determination of the state government to support the execution of such schemes.
Besides, the permanent secretary directed the Director Planning in the ministry to revive the Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Committee and ensure its inclusion in the agricultural sector’s budget line.
He urged Synergos Nigeria to articulate its requests for government’s scrutiny and approval before inclusion in the state’s budget line, adding: “The state government is ever ready to support Synergos in the state.’’
Kassim also urged rice farmers, who asked for farmlands around the Kuzuntu Dam to partner with the community leaders around the dam site and put up a formal request.
He pledged that the state government would certainly look into the request.
He commended Synergos for all the programmes it had executed in the state and urged the target beneficiaries to show more commitment.
Earlier, Kassim welcomed the new Synergos Coordinator in the state and lauded the NGO for its efforts to scale up agricultural production in the state.
Speaking, the Field Manager of Synergos, Mr Victor Adejoh, urged the state government to review its agricultural policies to find practical solutions to the challenges confronting the sector.
He underscored the need to collectively drive the process along with all stakeholders to achieve the goals of the State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA). (NAN)
SSA/MOL/OOK