Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has flagged off the 2022 farming season fertilizer sales and distribution to ensure that rural farmers get all the basic farm inputs at their doorsteps without necessarily going through the bureaucracy often associated with the past.
Speaking during the official flag-off of the programme in Dukul, Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State, Governor Yahaya said the fertilizers would be supplied directly to the Local Government areas for onward sale and distribution through the polling units so as to reach the grassroots.
To achieve that, Governor Yahaya said the Ministry of Agriculture, the Fertilizer Monitoring Committee, and relevant security agencies had been empowered to ensure that the fertilizers reached the intended beneficiaries promptly.
He said security issues and other challenges had caused delays in the procurement, production, and distribution process associated with this exercise for the 2022 wet farming season.
“The Ministry of Agriculture and relevant security agencies are hereby directed to ensure strict compliance with the clear guidelines of the sale and distribution exercise,” said Governor Yahaya.
He equally directed that a bag of NPK 15- 15 fertilizers should be sold at 19 thousand naira per bag, against the market price of about 25 thousand naira.
The Governor appealed to Gombe farmers to co-operate with those assigned the responsibility of sales and distribution of fertilizer across the State.
Also, the Gombe State Governor charged that the Farmers and Herders should cooperate with one another for peace to continue reigning in the State.
“I am appealing to our farmers against encroaching into grazing reserves and cattle routes and also calling on our herders and pastoralists to avoid grazing on farmlands prior to harvest and evacuation of farm produce,” said Governor Yahaya.
In the meantime, the Gombe State Commissioner for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Mr. Muhammad Magaji Gettado, said the Ministry would monitor the distribution of the fertilizer closely and that anyone found to be sabotaging the government’s effort would be sanctioned severely.
Mr. Gettado, however, solicited the state government’s intervention in various fields in the sector, such as the employment of agriculture professionals in the ministry and the Agricultural Development Programme, ADP, because the strength of the staff was greatly depleting and the ministry and the ADP would lack capable personnel.
He said the Pest Control Team of the Ministry should be revitalized to solve the problem of dependency on the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Emmanuel Ukoh
