Determined to curtail possible diversion of public property, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has deployed security agencies to track the distribution of government subsided fertilizers in Kano State.

Besides, the governor constituted two separate committee from the state and local government level to coordinate the distribution of the fertilizer to real farmers, cautioned against briefcase farmers.

Governor Yusuf gave the warning on Thursday at the Flagg off of 150 trucks of wet season subsidised fertilizers to farmers to enhance food security in the state.

He explained that distribution of the 90,000 bags of the fertilizers was made available at 50 per cent subsidized rate to farmers were parts of government efforts to enhance productivity, boost production and reduce waste.

According to the Governor, the intervention were made available for onward distribution across 484 wards in 44 local government areas, insisted any form of diversion will not be tolerated.

Yusuf reminded that his administration have been consistently provided top-level and highly subsidised fertilizers to farmers over the past three years. He maintained that such intervention will be sustained to boost food production in Kano.

“Over the first three years, our administration has made concerted efforts to revive certain end-modernised agricultural activities across the state.

“We have diligently aligned our projects and programmes with the contents of our development agreement, upon which we contend across the 44 government areas of the state.

” We have provided farm inputs to enhance agricultural productivity, we have consistently and glad to say the intervention has contributed in improving crop yields, reducing food prices, creating employment opportunities in rural areas, and even enhancing food security.

” Government is distributing a total of 150 crops, containing 90,000 bags of fertilisers to the 44 local government areas, that will also be distributed to 484 wards across the state. This translates to an average of three tracts per local government, with each ward having 70 beneficiaries.

“Let me say that the market price of each bag of fertiliser is 50,000 Naira. However  Governor disclosed that the subsidised the cost by 15%, translating into 25,000 Naira per tract. Let me say again that the purchase of this fertiliser is a joint venture between the Kano State government and the 44 local government councils”. He emphasized.

In their separate remarks, representative of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and ICPC expressed commitment to track the distribution of the fertilizers to beneficiaries across the local government areas to ensure sanity and accountability. They threatened to arrest and prosecute anyone found wanting.

On his part, Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Mahmoud Abubakar explained that farmers have enjoyed various interventions under the present administration including provisions of high yield seeds and farm inputs to boost productivity.

The Commissioner added that plans are being concluded to flag off equipments for mechanized farming to support farmers production and enhance food security.