Director Laments Farmers’Poor Response To GES

A Federal Director of Agriculture, Mr Simeon Oziri, has expressed concern over the low response of farmers in the South East to the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme.

Our correspondent reports that the GES is the flagship programme under the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda through which farm inputs are distributed through the e-wallet electronic system to farmers.

The programme is executed in partnership with the private sector.

Oziri, who is the director in Abia, said this in Umuahia during an agricultural stakeholders meeting organised by the state Ministry of Agriculture.

He expressed regret that only 31,175 farmers successfully redeemed their seeds and fertiliser using the e-wallet system in 2012.

He said that the Federal Government had spent a lot of money in revamping the sector and wondered why farmers in the zone would not avail themselves the opportunity of improving the well-being.

He said that the low response by farmers might be due to the late introduction of the GES in the area.

Simeon said that the ministry was currently updating the database of beneficiaries with a view to involving farmers who were not captured in the pilot phase.

Our correspondent reports that 197,000 farmers from the North Central benefitted from the scheme and 234,821 farmers from the North East.

Similarly, North West, South South and South West Zones recorded 560,933, 62,213 and 31,070 farmers respectively.