Auchi Farmers Get Fertilisers

Farmers in Auchi, the headquarter of Etsako West Local
Government Area of Edo, on Tuesday received 600 bags of fertiliser through the
Federal Government’s e-wallet system.

The distribution was supervised by Mr Andrew Irabor, a staff
of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in charge of the
local government.

Irabor told our correspondent that the urea fertiliser was
being given to farmers at N3,000 per bag as against N6,000 in the open market.

Irabor expressed optimism that more bags of urea would be
allocated to the local government due to farmers’ complaint about inadequacy of
the quantity allocated to the area.

The benefitting farmers commended the government for selling
the fertiliser at subsidised rate, but noted that seedlings/seeds, promised
under the e-wallet system, were not provided.

They wondered why only urea type of fertiliser was allocated
to the council area.

One of the farmers, Nasiru Momodu, expressed dissatisfaction
at the distribution exercise.

“What they promised to give us in the alert messages we
received was not what is being distributed now,’’ he alleged.

However, another farmer, Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed, expressed
satisfaction with the process, noting that it was a step in the right
direction.

Mohammed, who is the Edo North Coordinator of the All
Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), described the distribution process as
transparent.

“We are hoping that it will be a continuous exercise,” he
said.

The coordinator, however, said that the quantity of the
input would satisfy the needs of farmers in the area.

“We have about 2,209 farmers but only 600 bags on ground for
distribution will not go round.

“The farming season is almost coming to an end and it is now
farmers are receiving inputs from government.

“There is the need for government to do better for maximum
use of the inputs,” he said.