NAN-AE-15
GES
By Zubairu Idris
Katsina, Jan. 23, 2017(NAN) Agro-dealers Association in Katsina have urged Federal Government to settle their outstanding payments on inputs supplied to farmers in the state under the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme to sustain the programme.
The Chairman of Agro-Dealers Association, Alhaji Bello Abubakar, made the call on Monday when members of the House of Representatives Committee on agriculture paid inspection tour to some GES centres in the state.
Abubakar said that the call became imperative to enable the agro-dealers continue to supply the inputs to farmers to boost agricultural productivity and guarantee food security in the country.
According to him, the dealers had outstanding payments on the inputs supplied to farmers in the state for 2014 wet season, 2015 dry season and 2016 wet season respectively.
‘’We are calling on the Federal Government to hasten the payment of our members.
‘’Agro-dealers need to be settled to enable them supply more inputs to farmers in good time to boost agricultural productivity in the country,’’ he said.
The team leader of the lawmakers, Alhaji Muntari Dandutse, said they were in the state to assess the programme and advice government on the way forward.
‘’The major challenge of this country is food security, so, the National Assembly will continue to join hands with the executive arm to implement policies that will assist Nigeria to attain food security status,’’ he said.
He said that the Federal Government earmarked N93 billion for agriculture in the 2017 budget.
Under the programme, agro-dealers provide inputs to farmers with subsidy which would be paid by the government while the farmers receive allocation through SMS messages on their mobile phones.
For the 2016/2017 dry season farming, each farmer would be given two bags of NPK, one bag of Urea fertiliser, 50 kilogrammes of rice seed, agrolizer and insecticide at about N19, 000.
The programme targeted no fewer than 108,649 farmers in Katsina State. (NAN)
ZI/OIF/AFA
Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Felix Ajide