FG says Farmers’ access to high quality farm inputs will boost productivity
Audu Ogbeh |
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
has stressed the need for farmers to have access to high quality inputs at all
times, if Nigeria must increase its agricultural productivity.
Mr Ohiara Jatto, the Director, Farm Inputs Support Services
(FISS) in the Ministry, said this in Abuja on Friday at the Agro-Input Dealer
Certification and Training, organised by the International Fertiliser
Development Centre (IFDC).
Jatto said that the role of agro-input dealers was critical
in bridging the gap between the up-stream suppliers and the farmer.
``One of the objectives of the Growth Enhancement Support
(GES) Scheme is to facilitate the development of private sector marketing
channels for agricultural inputs.
``Within the last four years, the government supported the
private sector in building robust channels for distribution of inputs such as
seeds, fertilisers, agro-chemicals, livestock and fingerlings to farmers.
``This led to the emergence of a large army of agro-dealers,
estimated between 3,000 and 5,000,“ he said.
Jatto said that majority of the agro-input dealers do not
have any formal training on the product they sell, and therefore, could not
provide necessary advisory services to the farmers they serve.
He added that these were the reasons why several fake and
adulterated fertilisers, seeds, agro-chemicals and other sharp practices were
ongoing in the sector today.
``Some of such sharp practices include selling grain as
seed, selling fertilisers with short bag weights to farmers.
``With the absence of fertiliser law in the country to
control nutrient content, contaminants, bag and container weight, false and
misleading claims, we discovered farmers do not get value for their money,” he
added.
Jatto, however, said that the Ministry of Agriculture had
recently inaugurated the National Fertiliser Technical Committee, charged with
the responsibility of following up fertiliser legislation and quality control.
``With the National Agricultural Seed Council in place to
ensure registration, licensing and quality control of seeds; NAFDAC is doing
the same for agro-chemicals to ensure that sanity returns to agro-inputs
sub-sector.
``IFDC, through the Feed the Future Nigeria Agro-Inputs
Project, has trained agro-input dealers on product knowledge and distribution
of inputs to farmers,” he said.
According to the director, it is expected that the
agro-input dealers association will support the regulatory agencies to police
their members to ensure they adhere to high quality standards in order to serve
farmers effectively.
Also speaking at the training, Mr Saidu Zakari, President,
Nigeria Agro-Input Dealers Association, said they were in Abuja for the event
of certification of their members after undergoing three days training
organised by the IFDC.
Zakari said the project started in 2002 and was still
ongoing after 14 years.
``I am glad that members of the trade association have been
trained to be better market people.
“Over 300 agro-input dealers have been trained from the
beginning of the projects.
``The agro dealers will benefit from this training by
selling their goods and make more money for themselves because they are being
taught on how to preserve and store their inputs properly.
``They can also train the farmers in order to buy the best
materials and how to apply it on their farmland effectively to improve their
yield and minimise wastage,” he said.
The over 100
agro-input dealers trained were presented with certificates and were advised to
use the knowledge acquired to expand their business.
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