Ambassador wants regular supply of inputs to boost agric. production
Former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Paul Lolo on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to regularly supply farm inputs to farmers so as to boost agricultural production in the country.
Lolo made the call in an interview with newsmen in Kaduna on the sidelines of the first International Investment Development Summit on Ginger.
He said that the paucity of farm inputs would affect the Federal Government’s plans to diversify the economy via agriculture.
He said that the availability of fertiliser, tractors and other farm inputs would fast-track agricultural production which, in turn, would boost the nation’s food security and generate foreign exchange through the export of commodities.
Lolo, who, at different points in time, was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union (AU), said that when he retired from service, he opened a 200-hectare integrated farm in Kaduna.
He said that he wanted to contribute to the Federal Government’s food security programme through increased crop production, adding that his plans were, however, hindered by the lack of basic farm inputs.
Recall that at the start of the 2017 planting season in April, the Federal Government launched the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative to provide farmers with fertilisers at the affordable rate of N5, 500 per bag, as against the initial price of N10, 000.
The development was the outcome of an agreement signed in December 2016 between the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) and the OCP of Morroco for the importation of Phosphorus, one of the key ingredients for the production of fertiliser.
The main target of the initiative was to produce one million tonnes of fertilizer for wet season farming and 500,000 tonnes for dry season farming. The Federal Government then said taht the initiative would eliminate fertiliser subsidy, thereby saving for the government up to N60 billion in budgetary allocation for subsidy in the 2017 Budget.
Meanwhile, plans are underway to organise an International Investment Summit on Ginger with the theme: “Development of Ginger Value Chain in Nigeria, The investment summit is convened by TAK Integrated Agricultural Solutions Ltd., in collaboration with NEXIM Bank and USAID, among other agencies.
The Managing Director of TAK Integrated Agricultural Solutions Ltd, Kabir Usman, told NAN that the summit was convened to provide solutions to the various challenges facing ginger production in the country.
He said that ginger farmers were facing challenges such as the dearth of quality control mechanisms, integrated market facilities and processing facilities for export.
He said that the summit would, therefore, stimulate discourse on such challenges and proffer solutions to them so as enhance quality and competitiveness in the ginger trade.
Ginger product is widely cultivated in Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue states.
Available statistics show that Nigeria, the third largest producer after China and India, accounts for seven per cent of global ginger production.
Nigeria started ginger cultivation in 1927 and currently produces about 160,000 metric tons of fresh ginger per annum, with 10 per cent of the produce consumed locally.
AFAN begins distribution of fertilisers to members in Kaduna
The All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kaduna State Chapter, has begun purchase and sale of 140 tonnes of fertiliser to its members to boost their farm yields.
We have already sold out 80 tonnes to our members in the first phase; we will now commence the second phase,’’ the Chapter’s Chairman, Alhaji Nuhu Aminu, said in Zaria, Kaduna State on Wednesday.
He said that AFAN sold a 50kg of NPK fertiliser to its members at the Federal Government’s approved price of N5, 500. The association decided to engage itself in the purchase and sale of the commodity in order to bring succour to its members.
AFAN is always striving to ensure that farmers actively and holistically contribute their quota to national food security, he said.
Aminu appealed to the Federal Government to ensure that farm inputs such as fertiliser would reach farmers before the beginning of the rainy season to encourage them.
He also urged the government to give farmers pesticide and farm implements at subsidised rates.
