Worried about the escalating price of fertiliser and its impact on food production, a coalition of farmer groups has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to not kill late President Muhammadu Buhari’s legacy of agricultural transformation and access to fertiliser.

According to them, under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI), a bag of fertiliser sold between N5,500 and N9,500, but during the current restructuring of the initiative, the price has gone up to N58,000-N60,000.

The Guardian reports that under PFI, the Federal Government was importing raw materials for fertiliser production from Morocco, and supplying the product to blending plants, but to curb corruption, the government restructured the programme to allow the private sector to import the raw materials.

President of Coalition of Farmers Association of Nigeria (COFAN), Dr. Abubakar Bamai, who made the call during a press briefing organised in partnership with Himma Youth Farmers Association of Nigeria (HYFAN), yesterday, in Abuja commended the President for his bold agricultural reforms and programmes aimed at repositioning the nation’s food systems, saying the reforms show strong commitment to farmer empowerment, youth inclusion, and national food security.

He, however, expressed reservations over the immediate effects of the ongoing restructuring of the PFI on smallholder farmers, as the reforms had allegedly led to rising input costs, distribution gaps.

And uncertainty in fertiliser supply that may undermine the gains made over the past eight years.