The Chairman of Senate Committee on Agriculture, Sen. Emmanuel Bwacha, says the committee will ensure that more funds are allocated to the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM), Ilorin, to function optimally.

Bwacha said in Abuja  yesterday that NCAM was the only institute established by the government to boost mechanised farming to enhance agricultural production in the country.

“What we intend to do as a committee is to encourage the institute in Ilorin. We intend to appropriate more funds for the institute.

“For the first time, last year, they had the presence of the Senate Standing Committee and they are doing well now.

“They produce local threshers and rice milling machines. We’ll start it and encourage its domestication and improvement of these items,’’ he said.

According to him, the continuous use of local tools in cultivating the land will not encourage agricultural activities on a large scale.

He added that the use of mechanised implements was the panacea to large scale farming.

On the issue of fertiliser, he said: “It is the impression they create around fertiliser that makes it look like a very scarce commodity.

“If fertiliser is made to look like any other product, it will be available in the market.

“I am in tune with the new government policy on fertiliser that the subsidy should be removed because the farmers don’t really benefit from this subsidy,’’ Bwacha added.

He said that plans were under way to facilitate direct distribution of fertiliser to farmers.

“Through the biometric data system, farmers through their phones will be able to access the procurement of fertiliser. There will be no need for a warehouse for fertiliser.

“Any farmer can just walk into the market and buy fertiliser just like you and I will walk to the market and buy orange juice.’’

The Chairman stressed the need to make agriculture an essential part of the school curriculum to afford the youths an opportunity to embrace agriculture early in life.