Vanguard, M ONpAY, JUNE 20, 2011 - 43.
Agric
FinancialVanguard
Poor yield in agriculture traced to low use of fertilizers in Nigeria <
that plants need toll generate the food humans eat . M<ljor crop nutrients in fertil· iszers Me nitrogen, phosphorus and potash · al l n"'turMly oc· he priority of the curring elements in the envi· Millennium ronm ent. Micronutrlen ts are Development Goo Is (MOGs) Is halving 11I1I1ger and. ",Iso required In smQlIe r Ui ou.nls by p lants. These a extreme poverty by 2015; this -elemen ts a re critic",l to the pr esupposes thaI Agriculture IS growth , development an d one of th e main li t"y! of the h ealth of plan ts and influence economy that is essentiailo the l ood quality and health II.n.rPn ment of the MDG! sel by attributes th at are important for Ihe Federal Gove r nment 0 ' human nutrition. Nigeria. However, to reduce the The fun c t ion a nd persistent hunger that is s till con tr ibution 01 each plant prev41ent In the country, there nument!s very specific an d one Me some measures necessary to nutrient cannot substinlle for ensure food security in Ni~e.ria, another. The absence 01 on. and one of th e mCiUur es IS the n u trient in the soil can im!t procurement and distribution 01 p lant growth, even when a ll ferbli zers to fanners during the oth er nutrients are present in farming season. One may ask adequate amounls. Sin ce tl}e how an ap ple a day keeps the b eginning o f ag r ic ultu re doc tor away. Quite simple, it is several lhawand years ago, soli nch in nutnenls. From vil.uruns fertility has been of v ital and caJbohydrales to proteins, concern. At lirst, nlen sought nutrien ts ore packed into every ou t areas with fertile soils, smgle bile of an apple, which which they farmed until its helps to keep humans well fertility was exhawled Ilnd then nourished and healthy. And how moved to another areil- With the do we ensure the frui ts and help of fertilizer, farme rs can vegetables grown on farm, ale now improve and predict soil healthy Will! fertilizer nutrients? health and crop yields. The nutrienls that Me essential No region in the world h as been fo r human growt h are aho a ble ro ac h ieve food security neceuory for plant grawth . without significantly increasing Humans, animols and plants tlleweoftertilizer. The African rely on a sale, healthy supply of tontinent accounllII for 18% of food and nutrients like nitrogen, the wo rld's cultivated land area . phosphorus and potassium for but only 3% of its fertillzer con· proper growth and development. s umption. Put ano ther way, the Plant nutrients ue the "food" BY JIMOti BABATIlNDE, .... .jlh agem::'1 r~polU.
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The function and contribution of each plant nutrient is very specific and one nutrient cannot substitute for another;the absence of anyone nutrient in the soil can limit plant growth
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average worl!1 fertiliz e r con· sumption is a roun d 93kg p e r hecta re of cultivated land, but Africa's average consumption lags at 20 kglhilThe S ub ·Sahar an Afr ita fertil izer consumption dropped to which was 0.6"J1: of world cons um ption and a 141 cry Irom th e tMget of 50"/ciha by 20 15 set by African minis ters at the Africa Fertilizer Summit in AbuJa.. Nigerian fanners ullhse about a.IOky per hectare compared with 200kg per hectll.!e tha t is
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<lp proved by Food and Agricul· tural Organisation (FAO). The Minister of Agriculture, Prof. Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah dis. closed· recently m Kalsin a tha t Nigeria Is among the lowest us· ers of fertilizers in the world with an average rate of 10.13kg/ha of nutrient . The Federal Government, tonsciou, of the relevance of fertilizers to the farm ers, p a rticu larly when there are different types 01 50ils in each geo.polltical zone, had come up with diff~re nt policies since 1977 to dale trying to make at· cess to fernhzen by farmer s in the country easy. Th e Federal Government of Nigeria between 19 77 and 1996 i mplemented an annua l program of monopolized fertil· izer procurement and distrlbu· tion that was plagued by colos· sal wastage and divenlons. In 1997, Ih e sector was abrupliy liberalized as the busin es~ of fer· tilizer was turned over to lIJl un· prep41ed private sector which initially was unable or unwill· ing toll respond. Consequently, fertilizer use feU [rom a peak of 1.2 million Ions in 1992 to 56,708 tons in 1997. A federal subsidy was relntro· duced in 1999 at a level of 25% and continues at this Ta te today. In additi on 10 the Federal Governmef)1 subsid y. states fu r· theriubsidizes as they deem nec·
essary. There is clell.! evidence that a 141ge maJarity 01 the SUbsl· d ize d produc ts do no t reach those it is intended for. "Or U II d qes, lt~is -either delayed to a point 0 1 being of little.w;e/ The quemon ,then is howJ.io :Nigenan.lannen get .. cces5~t a fertilizers among otber ag ricul tura l Jnputs to increPe , ..crop yields .md qu ality 4S~ell as faT!Ders incomet To man\', government's involvement in fer~ tillzerpwchase and distribution is one of the many reasons for low consumption of fertilizers as the system Is heavily politiCIZed, with many politiCians wing ler· [i1izer supply and subsidies to garner votes and reward patrona,e. This has implications beyand lo w fertilizer consumpt ion . Firsdy, the s ub$idies, whith COSI the government dea rly, very often bertefit the wrong people. During the 200812009 farming setlSon in one state, PrOpCtlffi, Qn· l nnov a tive marke t driven program::ne funded bv DFlD, establish ed that 10% o'r faIm ers received th e governmen t subsidized fertilizer and, of those, over twa· thuds paid 40"'.. more than the s tate subsidized price . It is said Ulat almost go-,.:. 01 the stat"" s subsidy, worth abou. N2 .3 billion, was . wasted' on unin tended beneh· cialles. For Engl. Olumide Ayinla 01 the All FllJ11lers Association of Oyo State, the distrlbution of fertilizers has nat been effective in the country as mos t of the time, the products get into the wrong hands who later sell at exarbilantJlrices. PropCom even discovere That Ihe dis tributors recelvmg the subsidized fertiliz er usually sell II 0111 open markel pritCS Com;equently, they mi!.kfabnormally hi~h profits an.1 may hoard fertilizer r&.th~ r than sell il for less than the market puce Ol...tmide Aymla said ·'The passibility 0] fe rtilizers reaching us h dlfhcult. Tfle distribution 01 ferti lizers in Nige ria has not been that effective, becawe most of the time the ferabzer does nOI get 10 the final consumers whicb are the farmers .To him, one way o f malang sure the products get to them i! th rough th e elimina tio n 01 middle men. "Jlhm!.:. the gavern· ment has to look at the way the distribution is carried out, pos· sibly by cutting off all the mid· die mEn. - Engr. Ayola disclosed tha t farmers In Kaduna State . had prohlem with fernllzers as those bought by the government feU into the wrong hands. ·lUiead of2010 farming seasons, the Ka· dun a State Government pro. cure d 65,000 metric tonnes af fertilizers, butlhe farmers found it difficult to access the com· modity and were forced to buy in the open market a t the pnce determined by the middle men." He said a pMt fram the mode of distribution which fa vour cer· lain parts 0 1 the federation , members of the All Fannel5 As· sociation 01 Nigeria find it diffi· cult toll get the lertilizers al the rightll.me. This was corroborat· ed by Prince l key Ubaka of All Farmers Association of N igeria in in terview Wlth a natianal TV when he said : "When it comes to distribution, it is not timely. Nigeria is so vast that th e rain starts eally In the , oulh, in the rain lorest zone, and when we Me planning, we Me sup· posed to have tree budgel p ro· vlding far agriculture in puts in the south and move up north as the ram ascends toll the north:·
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