Edo Farmers To Get 60,000 Bags Of Fertiliser

The Edo Government has approved the purchase of 60, 000 bags of fertilisers for onward distribution to farmers in the state.

Mr. Mathew Ogedemgbe, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, told the newsmen  in Auchi, that the approval was part of government’s efforts to boost food production in the state.

He also said that the government had mapped out strategies to curtail the activities of middlemen in the distribution process.

To this end, he said that a committee comprising “men and women of impeccable character” had been constituted to oversee the distribution process.

“I can tell you that apart for the approval of 100 trucks of fertiliser, adequate provision has been made by the government to ensure a bumper harvest for farmers in the state this farming season.”

“And to ensure that the product gets to the real farmers, a committee has been put in place for the purpose, adding that the state was adjudged one of the best in the distribution of the Federal Government subsidised fertiliser last year and “we are hoping to repeat the same feat,’’ the permanent secretary said.

Ogedemgbe also said that the state government had commenced the disbursement of the N1 billion commercial agriculture fund to the various cooperative societies that had earlier been screened for the loan.

He said that the initial bottlenecks in the disbursement  of the loan had been resolved stressing that  challenges were that of duplication which prevented the bank from releasing money to the beneficiaries.

In the same vein, the state government has paid N56 million as the 2011 counterpart fund for the Fadama III programme. The state Coordinator, Mr. Richard Aviomoh told newsmen  in Benin that the state government would soon pay the outstanding balance for the programme.

He said that with the payment, all projects that were stalled due to non-disbursement of funds would be revitalised.

He further said that the development would increase agricultural activities in the state, adding that it also would impact on the income of farmers participating in the programme.

The coordinator said that the Edo Fadama Office would soon take stock of its activities in the past two years, as it prepares to host the programme’s zonal conference mission for the south south zone.

According to him, the conference would afford the participating states the opportunity to assess what they had done or failed to do in the last two years.

“It is also a dress rehearsal preparatory to the visit of the World Bank team to Nigeria later this year.”