Stakeholders move to review fertiliser quality control bill

As part of efforts to checkmate adultrated fertiliser and boost food production in the country, stakeholders have commenced the review of the Nigerian Fertiliser Quality Control Bill.

The move would, among other things, allow for the regulation and quality control of fertiliser production in the country, as well as proffer stiff penalties for those engaged in the product’s adulteration.
 
The bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives in June last year, is currently before the Senate for concurrence.Speaking at the Micro Reforms for African Agribusiness, (MIRA) Stakeholders Consultation on Economic Assessment of Agric Reforms in the Input Sector, organised by the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), vice president of NABG, Emmanuel Ijewere, said the meeting was necessary in order to make new inputs to the bill that would address current realities bedeviling the sector.
[ad]
“The bill currently before the National Assembly was sent by the executive in 2013, and between that time and now, a lot of things have changed, there is need for inputs to be made before it is passed.
 
“A group of professors were put together by MIRA with the task of looking at and reviewing the bill and making it more relevant to today. The aim is to get a bill to the National Assembly that is more current, that takes into consideration the farmers who are end users of the input,” he said.