As Jigawa State Government prepares to distribute 14,463  tonnes of fertiliser worth N1.5 billion to its farmers at  subsidized rate  this cropping season, Kano state farmers have decried the high cost of fertilisers in the state.

Farmer

The Jigawa state’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Alhaji Nasidi Ali, said  in Dutse that the initiative  was informed by the huge population  of  farmers in the state.

He  said the commodity, which comprised NPK and Urea brand of  fertiliser, would be sold to farmers at a subsidised rate of  N2,000  as against the cost price of  N4, 600.

The commissioner said 13,816 tonnes of fertiliser, equivalent to 452 trucks, would be distributed to farmers across the 27 council areas  while  225 tonnes would be  allocated to the state’s Agricultural Development Project(ADP).

He said  the ADP  was involved because “ it was closer to the farmers and major stakeholders in farming business.”

The Kazaure Agricultural  Research Institute, he said, would  be allocated  18 tonnes to enhance its research into  modern agricultural practices.

Ali reiterated Gov. Sule Lamido’s warning that  anybody caught diverting fertiliser would face the wrath of the law.

He said government had  inaugurated  Fertiliser Distribution Committees at the state, local government and ward levels to ensure that the commodity got to the real farmers.
Hashiru Umar, a farmer  in Auyo Local Government, commended the state government for providing the commodity  to farmers at affordable cost.
“ You know Jigawa State is rated as one of the poorest states in the country,  going by the statistics released by the Central Bank of  Nigeria.
“ However, with the provision of fertiliser, insecticides and other modern implements to farmers, the economy of the state will improve.
“ We farmers in the state have acknowledged what Gov. Sule Lamido’s administration has done for us in terms of empowerment and development, ” he said.
Meanwhile, farmers in Kano state said they may not break even this season due to high cost of fertiliser, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, the Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in the state, said.
Government_subsidised fertilisers ranging from Urea to DPK sell for between N2,500 and N3,000, but their costs in the open market are much higher.
“It is difficult for us to make profit this year in a situation where fertilisers are sold at N5,500 per bag in the market,” Nanono told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Monday
He noted that unlike other countries where fertilisers were sold cheaply to farmers, the commodity was being sold at prohibitive prices in Nigeria.

The AFAN chairman said the trend did not augur well for the development of agriculture in the country.

“Farmers cannot afford the fertilisers sold in the open market and they cannot rely on fertilisers supplied by the government either,” he said.

Nanono, however, expressed satisfaction with the high volume of rainfall so far recorded in the state, saying that it was a sign of good harvest this season.