The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, and the Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, on Wednesday disagreed on the success or otherwise of the Federal Government’s fertiliser distribution policy.

Adesina and Aregbesola spoke during a debate on ‘Growing agriculture at the state level’ during the 19th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.

The minister said 3.5 million farmers had so far benefitted from the fertiliser distribution scheme under the Growth Enhancement Programme, adding that the government was embarking on some reforms, while the states were also carrying out land reforms.

He said, “We are working with all the governors on the fertiliser sector reforms. We said the old fertiliser business was just a racket. In the old times, people would just fill papers at the federal level and fertiliser didn’t get distributed, but people get paid; and so, with Mr. President’s support, we cleaned up that sector and the state governments participated.

“The Federal Government’s participation is 25 per cent and the state governments paid 25 per cent of the subsidy. When we started last year, we reached 1.5 million farmers. This year, we have reached about 3.5 million farmers and we expect to reach five million more before the end of the dry season.

“So, it is that synergy between the federal and state governments working together, taking agriculture as a business rather than a development programme that makes things work.”

But faulting the minister, Aregbesola said the policy was a total failure in Osun State.

The governor argued that contrary to the claims by the minister, no farmer in the state had benefitted from the initiative.

He said if Osun State had benefitted from the scheme, his administration would not have spent about N1bn on fertiliser purchase for the farmers.

Aregbesola said, “I see the spirit, the zeal and the passion of the minister of agriculture. The fertiliser distribution thing did not get to my state.

“Honestly, I am serious about this. Whatever the governor of Anambra experienced, I did not experience. I had to commit close to N1bn to procuring fertiliser when the one arranged through the agents you put together failed woefully and painfully so, and that is the truth.

“My whole approach to all of this is to let Nigerians know the danger that is staring at all of us. If we keep on pretending and sitting down that all is right, there is a major problem.”

berem: What has a poultry farmer got to do with fertilizer? Is he feeding the chickens with it? oh lawdy lord!!

Obiagelli:
I TIRE O, that's actually what's going on the ground while those in Abuja celebrates their "achievements". You have to wonder why the price and availability of food stuff keeps rising with their self acclaimed success.

Obiagelli: btw the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has a budget of N81.41bn in 2013.

berem: Who is in charge of the fertilizer distribution? Federal Government might not be necessarily blamed for the fertilizer not reaching the farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture should create an agency which will have branches across all local governments. The agency should be in charge of distributing fertilizers directly to the farmers. If this is not done, unfortunately farmers will continue to complain of fertilizers not reaching them.

Akamu and Stew:

If not FG then who??

Maybe Federal Ministry of Agric.... Abi??

naptu2: That's why I advocate for real federalism.

I'll quote Adams Oshiomole (even though I don't completely agree with him) who said that "the Federal Government has no business running a 'Federal Ministry of Agriculture'. It's a complete waste of money and an avenue for corruption because they can not monitor the farmlands across the country from Abuja".

We should have fiscal federalism, which would mean that the states would depend on their resources (they'd get 50% derivation, instead of 13%). Nobody should get free oil money from the centre.

Each state would then devise a strategy that would suit it (eg the old produce boards, or something else).

I believe that we could have a federal ministry of agriculture, but their main aim should be to negotiate international agreements and seek export markets for our produce.

taharqa: Was it not dis same Aregbe who rejected and frustrated d FG's Fertilizer programme in his state, just like he did to SURE-P's Employment Scheme, simply for parochial political reasons?? Other Govs, like that of Delta, and many others who participated in d conference, acknowledged General working of d New Fertilizer Scheme; why is Osun State different??

awodman: .
At one point, he claimed his state had been shut out of the federal government fertiliser distribution scheme to aid farmers in various state, stressing that about N1 billion had been spent from the state purse to procure fertiliser ƒσя farmers.

However, his claim was refuted by the Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Akinwunmi
Adesina, who said it was untrue that fertilisers had failed to reach Osun State, adding that it was beyond the federal government to deliver the product directly to farmers in the states.

Obiagelli:
For example why would a commercial farmer need government fertiliser?

berem: Do you have a breakdown of what they use the money for? Apart from purchase of mobile phones and fertilizer what else do they do with their budget?

Obiagelli:
Where is the results of the phantom success in the fertiliser distribution in other states, you should discuss with farmers in your state and here from them.

rainbowman: I watched the State Governors session yesterday, though, I missed the keynote address from the Honourable Minister of Agriculture. From what I gathered, however, I discovered that the Minister had all the data including names and locations of all farmers who benefited from the GES programme with regards to fertilizer. Moreso, other state governors including the Governors of Kebbi, Anambra, Kogi and Cross Rivers state all had stories of how successful the scheme was but still pointed out some shortcoming where the Minister ought to improve. So its surprising that if some states recorded such feats while Mr Aregbesola could not.Other Governors were talking about improving value chains, bringing in investors and giving them some incentives such as land and tax holidays so as to readily process cash and food products, Mr Aregbesola claimed that the whole Agric transformation was a sham. For instance the Anambra state governor along with Governor Dakingari of Kebbi mentioned their success stories on rice production, using Sure P funds to purchase the products for storage from the peasant farmers in order to ensure price stability and income for the farmers however out brother from Osun state was just purely negative and obviously had no grasp about the issue at hand. I was really dissapointed with his response when asked what his state is doing differently in order to encourage investors to come and invest all he could point out was that he was feeding 300,000 pupils with one egg per week to which the entire session erupted in laughter. That is not to say that venture is not a good feat in itself, but the real question remains the sustainability of the whole venture since the resounding theme of the Summit is to make Agriculture private sector driven. As for the agriculture transformational agenda, I believe that there has to be cooperation between the Federal and State Governments regardless of political orientation, in that the States identify areas which are favourable to the them, bring in the investors and ask the Federal Government to provide gurantees for funding and policies since the state government more or less own the land.

berem: The only reason a commercial farmer needs government fertilizer is because it's been subsidized. Unfortunately, someone buys the subsidized fertilizers from government and resell it at a higher price to the farmers.That's where the problem lies.

awodman:

Here is your answer from an independent observer

rainbowman: I watched the State Governors session yesterday, though, I missed the keynote address from the Honourable Minister of Agriculture. From what I gathered, however, I discovered that the Minister had all the data including names and locations of all farmers who benefited from the GES programme with regards to fertilizer. Moreso, other state governors including the Governors of Kebbi, Anambra, Kogi and Cross Rivers state all had stories of how successful the scheme was but still pointed out some shortcoming where the Minister ought to improve. So its surprising that if some states recorded such feats while Mr Aregbesola could not.Other Governors were talking about improving value chains, bringing in investors and giving them some incentives such as land and tax holidays so as to readily process cash and food products, Mr Aregbesola claimed that the whole Agric transformation was a sham. For instance the Anambra state governor along with Governor Dakingari of Kebbi mentioned their success stories on rice production, using Sure P funds to purchase the products for storage from the peasant farmers in order to ensure price stability and income for the farmers however out brother from Osun state was just purely negative and obviously had no grasp about the issue at hand. I was really dissapointed with his response when asked what his state is doing differently in order to encourage investors to come and invest all he could point out was that he was feeding 300,000 pupils with one egg per week to which the entire session erupted in laughter. That is not to say that venture is not a good feat in itself, but the real question remains the sustainability of the whole venture since the resounding theme of the Summit is to make Agriculture private sector driven. As for the agriculture transformational agenda, I believe that there has to be cooperation between the Federal and State Governments regardless of political orientation, in that the States identify areas which are favourable to the them, bring in the investors and ask the Federal Government to provide gurantees for funding and policies since the state government more or less own the land.

Obiagelli:
You've got to be kidding me, ask the farmers on ground, do you know there is scarcity of maize as we speak, do you know a kilo of maize cost 88 naira and soya beans 122 naira per kilo.

Obiagelli:
trust me a commercial farmer does not even bother himself about subsidized fertiliser, because the fertiliser distributed by the FG is of low quality and is not diverse as there are different fertiliser for different crops.

Why subsidise fertiliser anyway, I won't go into farming just because fertiliser is subsidized, what happens to making the market attractive, how about storage and transportation.

Sis mi, the fertiliser is just about the least problem farmers are facing, they want to sell their produce fast at good prices before they perish.

Subsidy is also the reason why private companies shy away from fertiliser business.

omonnakoda: This Minister talks a good talk but little action.According to him our bellies are now full of cassava bread and Abakaliki rice

awodman:

GES was never targeted @ commercial farmers but to help develop the capacity of small scale farmers...its just same way we cry that banks should support SME's not only supporting gigantic projects like Dangote's refineries

Obiagelli:
You've got to be kidding me, ask the farmers on ground, do you know there is scarcity of maize as we speak, do you know a kilo of maize cost 88 naira and soya beans 122 naira per kilo.

awodman:
The beauty of discussions is the variety of opinions..some has given an account of how he followed the program on TV and you are trying to wave if it off...

Because maize and soya beans are costly does it now imply that the GES scheme has failed...its farm input like Fertlizer and seeds the only things that affect the price of farm inputs?

Now did you see the part whr aregbesola was asked what he has done differently to aid private sector develop agriculture in Osun does his answer sound plausible n sustainable?

We need to start viewing issues objectively and criticize constructively,rather than this pull him down syndrome...didn't you see how the other Govs acknowledged the sucess of the scheme and went ahead to list their challenges..

berem: Onions,yams and beans are still expensive in the market. Chicken and fish na big man food now.Na to port dey chop leather a.k.a pomo/kanda.

Na we wey dey go market everyday go tell you how far!!