The National President of NAIDA Kabiru Fara who said this during an interview with Nigerian Tribune, urged the Nigerian government to expedite actions and commence the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme which will be funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Fara said currently all the urea fertilizer produced by Dangote, Notore and Indorama is being exported which has led to the increment of price of urea from N5,500 to N18,000 per bag.

“Without the GES farmers cannot have access to subsidised farm inputs because the price of urea fertilizer has gone high, also the NPK fertilizer, a bag of urea in the Nigerian market is as high as N18,000, but two years ago it was sold N5,500 to farmers.

“We have challenges, the urea companies in Nigeria, Notore, Dangote and Indorama are mostly exporting their products instead of satisfying the Nigerian market because the export gives them foreign exchange and at higher price, not minding that these companies are based in Nigeria and no raw material is imported for production.

“The raw materials are sourced from Nigeria, so they should not be looking at the cost in the international market, but even at that, why can’t they release products in Nigeria”, he said.

He said a meeting was held between the Agro-Dealers and fertilizer companies at the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the companies were asked to allocate 35 per cent of their production to the Nigerian market, and also agree on an affordable price to sell.

“Two weeks ago, we did an open letter to the President, intimating him on what the challenges are, and we have been called for a meeting at the National Security Adviser (NSA) office with all the urea companies in Nigeria.

“In the meeting, they were told to allocate at least 35 per cent of their production to the Nigerian market, and they should come up with an affordable price for the Nigerian market, we are expected to hold another meeting with them soon.

“If farm inputs become costly, then food will be expensive, if this happens, it means not everyone can afford food in the country, then insecurity will increase.

“We hope that urea companies in Nigeria will start releasing their products to the Nigerian market, also the federal government should do what they can do to make sure that they return the GES, so that during the wet season, farmers can have some inputs.

“The importance of GES is that even if enough farmers are not on the list, the subsidized input will find its way to the market and the price will also be cheaper than the company’s price.

“The federal government should insist that whatever is produced by these urea companies should have 35 per cent allocated to the Nigerian market, and the government should quickly return the GES, the AfDB will assist Nigeria to ensure that it is implemented”, he added.