AFAN says high cost of fertiliser for 2016 farming may affect yields
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Niger chapter, said on Monday that inability of farmers in the state to get fertiliser at subsidised rate might lead to poor yields.
Alhaji Shehu Yusuf, AFAN Chairman in the state, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna.
Yusuf said farmers in the state were yet to get any form of subsidised fertiliser from the Federal and State Government’s Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme or other sources.
“Right now our farmers are buying fertilisers in the market between N5, 000 and N7, 000 per bag, depending on the type of fertiliser.
When it was subsidised and we purchase the commodity at the rate of N3, 000 per bag,’’ he said.
He said most of the registered 1.5 million farmers in the state, who could not afford the fertiliser in the open market, had resorted to use of local manure while others do not apply manure at all.
The chairman said that he had just received a text message to attend a meeting on the GES on Tuesday in Minna.
“For now I cannot pre-empt the meeting whatever is the outcome I will let you know,’’ he said.
Similarly, Mr Iliya Garba, a member of AFAN, said that initially he purchased three bags of fertiliser at the rate of N6, 700 per bag but when it could not get anywhere he resorted to droppings from his poultry farm.
The chairman had on May 16 this year appealed to government at all levels to ensure quick provision of farm inputs toward boosting food production in the country
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