Gombe farmers get fertilizer

GOMBE State government said it has distributed about 12,000 metric tonnes of assorted fertiliser and 35 metric tonnes of improved maize seeds to farmers in the state for this year’s cropping season.

The state governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, who stated this while speaking during the flagging off of the sales of fertiliser and improved seeds to farmers in the state, said that the fertiliser is NPK 15:15 and Urea 46 per cent and 35 metric tonnes of improved maize seeds of Samaz 18 and Samaz 14 for sale to farmers at subsidised rate.

He ordered the state Ministry of Agriculture to design an allocation and distribution pattern that would ensure the fertiliser reaches the genuine farmers, adding that the fertiliser distribution sales committee should effectively monitor the distribution and sales of the commodity in the state.

Dankwambo further called on the farmers in the state to utilise the imputes provided by government wisely so as to boost production, saying: “The government has considered all the economic variables and fixed the price for this wet farming season at N3,800 for fertiliser and improved maize seeds to cost N750 per kilogramme.”

Also speaking at the occasion, the state Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Jani Bello, said the ministry had come out with modified system for allocation and distribution of fertiliser in the 2015 farming season.

“We have identified 355 large-scale and 1,140 medium-scale farmers from our records at the Gombe State Agricultural Development Programme (GSADP)”, he said.

According to him, they also identified 56 women groups through the traditional rulers in the state.

“We are confident this distribution method will capture most of our farmers and we will ensure that commodity reaches the grassroots”, he said.

Bello said the ministry had completed arrangement to transport the fertiliser allocated to the respective local councils’ headquarters.

He, therefore, called on the farmers to take advantage of the support accorded to agricultural development by the present administration.