NEDC, group donate farm inputs to 4,200 Bauchi farmers
Two months after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) handed over 2.15 million bags of fertiliser to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the ministry has yet to begin distribution of the farm input.
Farmers and other stakeholders had been raising concerns over the delay in the distribution of the farm input following the onset of the rainy season for farming.
This was as the North-East Development Commission (NEDC), in collaboration with a pro-Tinubu group, LOBITO for Asiwaju, donated farm inputs and implements to 4,200 farmers across the 20 local councils of Bauchi State to boost food security.
Ministry sources disclosed that the distribution was delayed because it was trying to verify the allegation that the fertilisers had expired.
A source revealed that the bags of fertilisers were leftovers from the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) undertaken by the immediate past CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele.
“It is not as if the CBN bought new fertilisers; these are left-over products of Emefiele’s failed ABP. These are the fertilisers the CBN handed over to the ministry. There are issues the ministry needs to clarify before commencing the distribution. There was the allegation that some of the fertilisers have expired.”
Although the Director of Farm Input Supply Services, Abana Abba, had refuted the claim, he admitted that the department took samples of the said fertiliser to three laboratories to ascertain its quality.
Abba told The Guardian that the samples were taken for analysis to three laboratories, including Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and Bayero University, Kano (BUK), adding that the results showed that the fertilisers were still in good condition with just “little” issue and safe for farmers’ use.
According to him, having identified the locations and tested the quality of the products, the ministry would soon commence the distribution, zone by zone.
He, however, did not explain how the ministry would distribute the products to farmers across the country.
NEDC representative, Sulaiman Aliyu, at the distribution of the farm inputs, yesterday, in Katagum, said the distribution was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s efforts at boosting food production to achieve food security in the country.
Aliyu said the commission was collaborating with the group and other stakeholders to support the farmers directly to boost dry and rainy seasons farming. The items donated include 3-inch water pump, liquid fertiliser and chemicals, as well as improved seeds of maize and rice.
Coordinator LOBITO in Bauchi, Usman Darazo, said the items would be distributed through the group’s structure and stakeholders to 4,200 farmers across the state.
While noting that the gesture was mainly for grassroots farmers across the three senatorial districts of the state, he urged the beneficiaries to utilise the items judiciously.
