Price of fertilizer soars, as cement rice crashes By fIna A. Hassan, Sunda, W11fi..""s. Olareml R. lllnhlm, Umar Jibrll G\Qndu, MtmI Giginyu (Kinol, UrnlMI A. BtOo (lokcja). Ahrnfd f.lohamlMd 1&>IlJIhI), tt LarJallbfattim (Gombel
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RlCES of ferti· liur in different markclS across the: northern part of
the (ountry nave gone: up. I"hile: at the same lime that of cement have drastically com: down, Daily Trust Investigation rt\nltrl. Most farmers \LSe the
commodity during farming ~asl) ns to help thelr crops yield qualityoutputs. Federal government normally subsidises the prictofferliliur and distrib·
ute to states to sell to [;lrm-
Farmers arc exp«led to purchase the commod-
tn.'
ity betw~n NI,OOO and Nt.500. Bul in the ~n
markets, farmers pay higher. For uamFIe. in the Fed·
cnI Capital Territory (FCT), Abu,!a, a bag of [trlili:er in
the open markets cost as high as Nil. 000. III Masaka. II 10W11 in N;tS2rall'a Slale. bordering the I:CT, a bag of ftrtilizer goes forN4.500in lheopen marktt. til Kubwa, a satellite town In tht FCT, a bag of NPKI6,' 16 (Nitogen, (1h05' phorlls, potassium) sells for N7,0Q0, NPK 20,105eU5 for N I6,OOO while a oogofUru is sold for N5,0Q0. 1\ 11'5. Agatha Dzum Is a farmer in Denut State. She said the black marke t price for ftrtiliur in tht slate flu c· tuatts between N4, SOO and N5, 200. She v;plained that the state go~rnmmt is yet to make pub!k its offici.! prlct fOf fenilluT. In Kano State. a source
ingat between Nl.600 and NI ,700. saying as soon the old stock;are uham;ted ;all cement will come down to NI.500. n Gombe State. Ashaka cement which is th e dom· Inant ctment in Gombt market Is selling as hi gh as N 1650 per bag. while Bua cement goes for N2. 150 per bag. Dangote ctment goes for N 1, 400. In Abuja, a bag of Dan· gote cement now goes for Nl, 600 in the retail shop as aSilins! the previous prke ofNI,800. Information gat hertd from sellen in Jabi re ... eal~d that, it bag of Dan· gote cement is gollen from the depot at the rate of N 1350 while they in turn sell al tht rale o f N1600 due 10 transport incurred in the proem of transport· ing the commodity. In Ka.no, however. cement is still sold for as high as N2, 500 b«aust of high cost of ITllnSportalion. It Cosi about N200. 000 to transport it single truck of cement from Dangote Cement Plant in Kogi State to Kano.
craving anonymity said the official price of ftrti lizer presently is Nl , 900 but it is higher in the open market.. According 10 theSOUfCe, the price during tllI~ lut administration was Nl,OOO but an extra N900 has been added to the price by the new administration. In Kebbi State, a bag is sold between N4, 300 and N5, 200 but the official go... · ernment price for !l,e prod. uct isN!, 700. At lhe Railway Marut. \Vunli Markel, Mudalawal Market and Cmlral Market in Bauchi State. bolh a bag of NPK and Urea were sold between N3,SOOand N4,OOO as against gO\'Crnmmt offi· cial price of N2.500 per bag. Farmers Uke Alha;\ Sani Sadisu and Haji}'2. Fali Sar·
kin Noma said II is "'try dif· findlto get the commodity from the go\'em menl at a subsidi7.ed rate of N2, SOO pe:r bag because govern· mtnt offldal who dlslribute tile commodity ga\,<: only. trailtr per ward which is too small foro~r lOOOfarmers. hairman of Bauchl State com mittee for the distribution of ftrtilizer, Alha]l Sade could nol be reach (or com·
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In Gombe Stal e. NPK fertilizer made by Golden fertilizer is sold for N6300. while other varieties go fo r between NSOOOand N4700. Urea cost between N4600 andN43oo. Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Agri·
culture and Rural Devel· opment Matthew Haruna, said the federal government subsidizes the: price to the ~tates go\'emment so thai fanne rs can aC(:ess the com modity. Prices of cement on Ihe other hand have come down after Dangote Cement announced It down review of its com· panyprice from Nl, 500 to ' Nt, 350 last week. Before the cl1lsh in the price of the product. a bag of cemenl w;as sold for as high as N2, 500 and N3, 000. It now goes for as low as Nl, 500 and NI. 600 in 50memukets In Kogi State. a cement dealer. Abdulhamid Muhammed said they ITe gelting the product from
the factor), at tht ralt of Nt, 370 ;and sell althe cost ofNt,SOO. He said thost who bought from the factory before the directive to reduce the prict art stll ·
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