There was a mild drama at the day two of the Nigeria Economic Summit, as Governor of Osun state, Mr Rauf Aregbesola and the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Adesina Akinwummi traded words over the federal government fertilizer distribution programme.
Mr. Aregbesola had described the federal government’s fertilizer distribution policy a failure in the state just as he canvassed for a non interest loan scheme for farmers in the country.
Speaking as participant at a forum on ‘Growing Agriculture At the State Level’ organized at the ongoing 19th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, Aregbesola stated that the federal government’s fertilizer distribution policy has woefully failed as not one single farmer in the state got the product being handled by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
Because of the failure at the federal level, governor Aregbesola expressed dismay that Osun had to cough out a whooping N1billion to procure fertilizer for farmers in the state.
He disclosed that things are not done right in the agric sector stressing that the country was doomed if all pretended that everything was all right.
Disclosing that the state government did everything possible to encourage farming in the
Speaking on the attack on the federal government by governor Aregbesola on the issue of fertilizer distribution, the minister of agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adeshina described as untrue the governor’s claim that no farmer got federal government fertilizer in the state.
According to the minister, at the recent National Council of Agriculture, all the participating states’ chief executives present commended the federal government for the better way fertilizer distribution was handled in the country.
Dr Adeshina also enjoined states to partner with the federal government in its agric transformation agenda, adding that “you can clear the whole land in your state for farming, if there are no incentives, the whole efforts will come to nothing” Governor of Kogi state, Captain Idris Wada, speaking on the development of agric in the state said the state adopted the Federal Government Agriculture Transformation Agenda as its own with a focus of cassava and rice.
He said the state government actually encouraged the planting of rice in the flood prone local government areas of their states through an innovative rice back scheme which saw rice farmers selling their rice to the state government at a competitive price.
Also speaking, governor Peter Obi of Anambra state emphasize the need for small scale farmers to see agric as a business with a view to reducing the level of poverty in the state.
Besides this, governor Obi said the survey carried out by the state government indicated that there is high level of poverty in those parts of the states inhabited mainly by farmer.
Kebbi state, governor Saidu Usman Dakingari said the state government, in recognition of the peculiar nature of its environment, decided to develop specific strategies as well as reinforce those that are working to hasten development of agriculture, especially those areas in which the state had comparative advantage.
Such efforts, he said included the reorganization of the Ministry of Agric, Kebbi Agric Development Project and National Programme for Food Security and Farmers credit and loan scheme.
He said the state government had also embarked on an all year rice production which started with the introduction of Kebbi Agric Transformation and Self Help Initiative.
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