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INSIDEl OPS warns Jonathan agains t hurried approach to EPAs
Food security: Achieving targets through timely s upply of fertilisers 1\ S the 2011 famling season approaches. manv farmers hare already anxiouc;; over the procurement of adequate feruho::ers thai will meet thelT agricultural needs Fertilisers. whether organic or Inorganic. aTe necessary farmlOg input' required to boo<t agricultural yields 10 the nation' 5 march towards achieving
food
security.
However the predommant fear among farmers have relllalOed the delayed and inadequate supply of fertilisers. whIch may portend a bleak harvest in the year The fear may not be a mls[llaced one. espeCIally in vIew of Iheir past expenences
They have. therefore. called for concerted efforts on the part of the Federal Government towards ensuring that all bottlenecks assocIated w!lh fertiliser procurement. distribution and suppl>'
111
the country are overcome
The general consensus among farmers and other ,takeholders 1< thai fertilisers late arrival in the past had made nonsense Qr planting seac:;ono:; Therefore. farmers' expectattons of humpel h?lrvest!' In the year are at risk. If determined efforls ale not mild> to hali the failure trend But a <:;panner ap8,ears to have been thrown Into the \",orks along the line of their expectatIon The farmers and ,tdkehnlders who <;a\\, the recent relaxat ion of comphance order IS~lIed to contractors supplying ferllHsers to farmers acro"-s the country. have described the extension granted as a ~t back to the earlier hopes raIsed The Federal Governmenl had. late January. given a 45· day e'ten~lon to the con tractors supplying ferl il isers fo r the 20 J0 farmlllg season to execute the contract From the ooglllal date of February 20. 20 II compliance date. the new c1eadlllle IS due 10 expire on April 14 One of the local fertiliser manufacturers. who preferred to be anonymous. noted that about :lO contractors \.Vere awarded fertiliser contracts to supply 900.000 lonnes worth about N 893bn for the 2010 cropping season The Permanen: Secretary. Federal M illlstry of Agriculture and Rural Development . Mrs Fatima Bamidele. was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria as confirming the ne\.\.! extension. addlllg that the exlenslon came on the heels of requests by Ihe con tractors. who compla oned that there were hurdles they had 10 clear She had <ald. "We realise that the supplies they have made IS less than 50 per cent for the fanning season. so we had to take a deCIsion whelhel to slop Ihe supplies or allow II III conill1ue. bUI obvu)usly because we wanl Ihe Nigerian larmers In l....·neilt. we had 10 allow them to continue. 'They had prohlems of funding problems of cleanng their goo(h~, prnblo?ms of transporting it there. and thi<:: is 111 a bid to .;,upporl our local ronlrador<:: becanse we found out that the (araclt~: 15 a bit lov..- In carryin.R out this \.VOl k. so the minister
Large-scale farming in Nigeria has often been confronted by the perennial pmblem of delayed supply of fertilisers by accredited contractors. But s takeholders say the failure to meet d elivery time by contractors is brewing a serious threat to the country's food security programme, writes LAY! ADELOYE graciously approved extenSion of 45 days. ,. producllon, procurement and importation. Without nece!'sanly Although Bamidele tried to allay farmers' fears that the polillcising the whole issues extension ma~' affect Ihe sU[lply for the 2011 farming season. "For instance. the government should allow local players IIldicatiolls emerging from the larmers. however. showed WIth the abilily to import the product to get Ihe contracts that the farmers would need more than mere rhetoric to be wllhout 'politicising' the process The uillmale objecllve collvlllced Bamideles assurance that there was fertiliser III should be to ensure timely distribullon and adequate supplle, store In excess of what the farmers requIred for the 20 II to boost food producllon farming season may just not be enough. except conclete "The importallon of fertiliser IS a bit complex; government actions are seen. should allow only companies that have the abillt~'IO undertake "What we have INllllast 2011 and part of 20 12 We are Ihe tasks."' he added not short at all and thIS will not affect any of Ihe seasolls According 10 him. any incompetence In the process will Any of the states that wan t more ferltliser can now apply," always put f3lmers, who are the end users. at the recelvll1g she added end. wilh its attendant loss of IIlcomes ';he was also quoted as saying that improved pl'odUChvlly "Farmer!' suffer col05<::al losses. which run Into mtlhons of In agriculture and attainment of food security were some naira because they borrow at high Interest rates to procure of the cardinal objecllves of President Goodluck Jonathan. seedlings. plough the lands and engage labour If there IS whIch could only be achIeved through effective delivery of no timely and adequate supply of ferllllzer to back up such quality input. mostly fertilisers. to farmers al affordable price efforts. the farmer mav be III trouble."' he ,aId ··Currently. Nigeria is amollg the lowest users of ferlllisers Another farmer and an executive member of NACOTAN. globally with an average rate of 13kg per hectare. whIch IS lsa Ibrahim. said timely provision of ferllilsers III suffiCIent around 10 pel cellt of global average."' she had saId quanl!t~' was capable of boostlllg exi<tlllg YIeld volume by as In an IIlterview wllh NAN [lenultimate Tuesday. the much as 30 per cent Ibrah Im saId he fore,aw a s!luatlon. PreSIdent. National COttOIl Farmers Associalloll o f N igella. where fertiliser distributIon in 20J 1 would nol be enough to, Alhaji Alivu Danmaranya. had decned the recurring problems meet the farmers' needs of fertiliser procurement and distribution. a situation that had He said. "Farmers need over one mtllion tonnes of fertiliser been unsettllllg majority of farmers in the land. as the products to effectively contribute their quola to the nallon's Gro" often arrived long after plan ting periods Domeslic Product The governmenl should not [lolitime the "As at now. a bag of ferti liser sells for between N4.500 Issue of ferilliser but should be commItted to the <et goals 01 and N6.000 as against the controlled price of N1.800 How Improving produchon .. many farmers can afford It at such a [lrice." Danmaranya had He suggested thai the 2010 contracts should be cancelled. quened urgmg the govern ment to fast·track the processing of A eros ... sectoral interview with stakeholders b~,.. our application ror 201 ] According to him , such an action wtll correspondent also revealed a similar trend ensure early deHvery and miilgate storage of fertiliser III the On his part. an agronolllist. Mr Emmanuel Ajayl. said counlry that the Federal Government should ensure a more eHlcient Notwithstand ing these hICCUps. these agricultural e"perts method of procUlement and distribullon of the [lIoduct. If the stressed the need for all loose ends In the fertilIser induslry nation's rood needs lllu~t be met to be quickly lied so as to save farmers the ordei'll of a bleak ··Farmers. who are the end users of the products. lose harvest due to lale dellvenes of fertiliser stocks sub,tantial volumes of Iheir produce and IIlcome as a resull of Such effOlls. accordlllg 10 them. will lend credence 10 the late arnval of fertihsers:' he said government's avowed goal of enslITlng food secunty (01 th e He called for a more liberahsed rocess of ferhhse"'-'.r_-,n",a:.:.i1",o"nc..'