SUNDAY TRUST
49
July 24, 2011
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Farmers lament govt's insensitivity Once the rainy season sets in, those who till the soi l and tender crops become restive because accessing the necessary facilities for the season's work is always troubling. Now the season is galloping to the finish line but farmers can hardly lay hands on loans and relevant farm inputs. from Toryili kijo, Makurdi & Hllill1i Musa, Kino
WH IlE government sayS;1'Ptnl huge sum of money In me procurement orrerlilizcr with Ihe inlcnlion of selling illD fa nners al subsidized price. Earners complain that thE farm inpulShardly reach them. Farmtrs an: grumbling Ihal theycannolacccsssupport from government. Getting fcrlili z.er which should be rudlly available for inslance is a herculean task. In BeRue, no loan. fertilizer A erou 5eClion of farmers in Iknue Siafe have said that Ihey arc yet to aecas the N2 bUlia n agricultural loan Ilfomised Ihem by th e federal government. Thcyalso uid gelting necessary inpu ts for Ihis cropping 5ea~on has been troubling. The chairman of Potatoes Growers' Associa lion in Vandeil")'a loalgovemment aru, MrThaddeus Nyam said even Ihough farmers there were made 10 deposil money In a cCllnmercial bank, both state and fed eml governments are yet to make th e facility available to Ihem si nce last year. He expressed, ·our soil is over uSC'd and requires Ihe applicalion offertilizcr which is very scarce DOW." A noth er farmer, Mr. Joseph C hlorwho ii chairman of Cassava G rowers' Associa~
tio n in the Siale said he decided 10 visit Ihe slate's office of All Farmers' Associa tion of Nigeria (AFAN) to kn ow why th e govern ment's loan is nol forthcoming. T he CaSS<lva Growers Association chaimlarl lamented that Ihe month o f July (which is halfway the farming seaso n) is almost gone wilhom Benue State fanners havin!! money to purchase f.:rtiliu:r which is sold al N7,000 per bag: in the black. mar~
ket. CoUaborating their dalms, the state 5C'Cretary to AFAN. C hi e(Samuel Kwaghn.a wd since October. 20 I O. he received a leeter (rom the Central Bank o( Nigeria (CBN) 53ying that about N2 billion conunercial agriculture loan facility would be disbulSCd 10 farmers in Benue State for which over 2,800 groups submitted their loan proposals but nothing has come out of this. The AFAN secrdary ftvealed thai th e Benue Siale governmen t was 10 acknowl~ edge the l'anners groups through the endorsement oflrrevoable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) for Ihe loan ofN LS billion 10 be lodged into Ihe groups' various bank accounts but surprisi ngly, govem~ ment asked tb e seve n co mmercial banks 10 transfer the money into th e stale coffers.. According 10 Kwaghlla, the state gov~ ~rnment had planned to usc the funds to reloan them 10 fanners, the demand , he said the commerdal b:mks turned down while
governmenl also ref'uscd 10 sisn Ihe ISPO fornl si nce October, 20 10. He therefore, appealed to the sl al egov~ eroment to be serious. and give priority to agricul tu re through payment of cou n terpart funw. He pointed oUllhat AFAN Benue Siale chapter did not partici pate in agricultural shows in Abuja due 10 lack of funds stressing that th e Food Baskel of the Nallon will collapse if urgent l teps arc nol taken now. III Kana. it is a bag for 3 Farmers In Kano said they wen: able to ge t little subsidised ferlililer. A farmer, MallalO Umar Ibrahim said he was given one bag 10lliare with two others. According 10 him, tbequanlity was quile inadequate.. Ibrahim said m:my rural farmers are still ignora nl on how 10 access agro -allied faci lities. adding that there is need for more s.:nsillzation o n the part of government. He advised govemmentto be sincere in its efforls to support agriculture in Ih e state. A female farmer who owns a farm in Bunkure local governm ent arCil $:l id she was able to access some assislancc for her farmers group. ~We have been abl e to get fertilizer and Inseelicides from the co mme rcial agric ulture project. We normally give 50 pen:.cnl of Ih e amount and th e
~-( N2
billion commercial
~ ,,,, agriculture loan facility would be disbw-sed to fanners in Benue State for which'ov:er 2,800 groups submitted their
' lo;in~butpoth !Jig bas come out of this • • ..~,~ . 1''''_ project would give lhe o ther 50 percenl; she disclosed Speiling on the assis tance given the (armcn by the KllnoStalegovernment, the Pcrmanenl Secretary, Mlolstry of Agricuhure and Natural Resou rces, AJhaji Muhammad Baclawi sald the ass istance reaches ru n}ers in three phases. The first phase according to him was the provision of fertilizcl lo farmers at ward level. Under it, small scale famlets were given lopmost priority, · the first fer1l1izer conSignment WliS talcen 10 the ward level tarceling the small farmers whose need for the fertilizer Is nol. much-Some need lilLie for their small farnu.. AJ for the medium and small scale
farmers. th e next distribution wJl] target Ihem. He Aid there was no governmenllhal can satisfy the fertiliur neu! ofKano farmas.stressing that now government needs 10 purchase N 16billiofl worth of fertilizer to meel the ne-ed ofKano fanners. He maintained that what government does is to give subsidised inputs so Ihat Instead of buying them at aorbj~1 prices in the marut, the farmers get them at cheaper ratcs, He maintained th at farmers boughl a bag of(ertiliser this at N 1,900 as against the mar~1 priceofNSOOO. 1'he s«ond phase he 53id is the procuremenl ofttlclors. Badawi said the stale govemment in collaboration with the federal govemment will procure about 80 IraClors whi ch wUi be sold 10 farm ers groups at a subsidiud rates.. ·Under thls acrangemCtltlhe stale and wilh federal governments wiU pay 40 percent o f the amounl and rarmers wiU pay M
the remaining 60 percenl. So if the traClor is bought al NSmillion, farmers will get il at N3mUlion. Govemment ha.i set aside N63miUlon for the procureme nl of the I.r.Ictors." he an nounced.. The last phase as discloSC'd b y the Pam Sec is training ofrarmeri Ofl how (0 go about farming activi Lics in more profitable ways. He said government h as sct aside another N61millio n for Ihe n:vival or the five :IISlic schools located In Gwarzo, RanG, DambaUa and Kadawa. If revived. the schools will embark o n training of farmers on how 10 usc caUle 10 plough the land establish (jsh ~ cri es, poultry and livestock f'amling. He explained Ihal through Ihe Fadama III and th e co mmercial agrlc project, farmers have received assislance to Ih l! tunc of NI38m and NI86million rrom the two projects. The procCS$ of accessillg these assis tances was throuJ;h the formation of rarmer's associations al the wud "nd SIal, kvel