The Oyo and Niger State Governments have pledged to provide fertilisers for farmers in their states to boost food production.
Oyo State Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Mr Oyewole Oyewunmi, said in Ibadan, Thursday that 12, 000 metric tonnes of UREA/NPK fertiliser would be sold at subsidised rate to farmers in the state ahead of the next planting season.
He expressed the state government’s readiness to boost the state’s economy by improving farming operations and farmers’ yields, stressing that the fertilisers would be available in all the eight warehouses and the farm service centres where agricultural inputs were sold in the state.
He stated that under the Federal Government Special Fertiliser Intervention Programme, the state would receive 8,000 metric tonnes of NPK fertilisers while the state government would procure 4,000 metric tonnes of UREA fertiliser to be sold to farmers at a subsidised rate.
Oyewnmi explained that concentration would be on the procurement of fertilisers and not agrochemicals which could be easily accessed by farmers in their communities.
The commissioner called on all stakeholders, particularly the youths, to engage in agriculture to achieve food security, job creation and poverty eradication.
Similarly, the Niger State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Nuhu Dukku, has said that the state government would begin the distribution of fertiliser at subsidised rates to farmers in the state between March and April.
Nuhu who spoke in Minna, the state capital said that the state government would not rely on fertiliser supplies from the Federal Government, adding that it had entered into a partnership with a private firm for the procurement of the fertiliser.
Dukku said that only genuine farmers would access the fertilisers as distribution and monitoring committees would be inaugurated in all the fertiliser distribution centres. He revealed plans by the state government to purchase tractors to be distributed at subsidised rates to farmers in order to boost food production. He lauded the farmers for bumper harvest recorded last year and urged them to produce more food this year.

Source:

http://naijagro..com/2018/02/oyo-and-niger-state-governments-to.html