The executive secretary of FEPSAN, Mr. Gideon Negedu, says in Abuja at the meeting of Input Suppliers, Agro-Dealers And Financial Institutions.
“We have raised almost N140bn cash and guarantee to enable Blenders to be able to procure raw materials for this season but we need more support so that we will able to buy more,” Negedu said.
He noted that the association have been having challenges in terms of adulteration, which he said is the biggest problem the industry is having because fertiliser is a big investment.
He said, “When you ask farmers to investment in fertilizer, you are asking them to putting in their trust, money for a good yield base on the fact that the fertilizer will give them good harvest but that is always the case.
“People buy this fertilizer and a lot of them are adulterated because when you have a product that sales into 10/10, 15/15, you should have the nutrients in those proportion but that is not what you always see.
“That is why we encourage people to patronise FEPSAN accredited Blenders because more often than not you would not get quality product from such places but we are happy that FEPSAN is proud to have worked with government in coming out with what we call fertiliser Regulatory Law.
“That law will help and is helping to be able to make sure there is teeth to bite fake base adulterates, so that when they are caught doing this they will serve jail term. So, all these things are supposed to be there as deterrent to protect the farmers.”
He also urged the government to provide security for farmers to be able to go to farms.
He said, “If we produce anything and the farmers are not there to pick it means nothing to us and the nation.”
Also speaking, the country director of Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Dr Kehinde Makinde, represented by the Data Assistant, Mr Ndem Chijioke, said that in 2018 AGRA provided a grants support to the fertilizer builders made up of FEPSAN and others.
He said, “In 2018 that is when we started the work around developing proper and specific plan for small holders farmers and we are also advocating for adoption and building capacity of the fertilizer builders and other values chain like farmers, Agro Dealers.
“We provide this support to understand that we have the capacity to manage to handle what is coming. So what we are seeing here today is a follow up on that engagement.”
According to him, the trials have been conducted, with the first one conducted in 2019, the second one in 2020 and this one supposed to be the final one and the demonstration for the final one has been established in Kaduna and Niger.
He said, “In this demonstration we are expected to at least have one excellent blend for maize, rice and soyabean that if a farmer who is farming only beans does not need to go and buy any fertilizer. You just buy fertilizer for maize and you get the best yield from it.”
Daily Trust
