Kaduna builds 94 Warehouses for fertilisers

Kaduna state government said it has since commenced the construction of 94 new warehouses in 23 Local Government Areas, LGAs, of state in preparation to receiving 35,000 metric tonnes of  phosphate based fertilisers, among others,   which would be sold to farmers at prices lower than last year’s subsidised prices, Kaduna State Commissioner of Agriculture, Dr. Manzo Daniel Maigari to newsmen in Kaduna over the weekend.

Maigari, who said the state government had secured enough fertilisers directly from overseas producers, said the state government was worried about the prediction by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, that there would be shortage of rainfall this year, saying the state has engaged  seeds  suppliers to  introduce short, early maturing variety of crops to farmers this year.

 He said: “As for the present government, we very unsatisfied with the methods and procedures of previous procurement and distribution of fertilisers. What we have done this time around is to talk to companies who are manufacturers to bring in fertilisers at special discounts rates straights to ware houses, and we are opening these warehouses free-of-charge for them. The whole essence is to get fertilisers delivered to farmers at a cheaper price and I can assure you that we got these fertilisers at pricees that are cheaper than the previous subsidises prices, ” said.

Last year, farmers paid  2, 700 Naira per bag of NPK fertiliser as against market price of 5,600 Naira, Urea fertiliser went  for 2,600 Naira as against 5,000 Naira market price, while  SSP was  to be sold at 2,940 Naira as against 4,900 Naira market price

Maigari continued: “They are expected to arrive end of this month. The major challenge has been that most of the stores have been dilapidated, because the warehouses have not been in used for a long time. What the previous government did was that in every Local Government they just drop fertilisers there, and every person goes there to pick. And you can agree with me that that is very cumbersome and adds up to the cost.

“So what we are looking at now is to ensure that we have a minimum of four warehouses in every LGA. We are doing it in a manner that a famer does not have to travel 50km to get fertiliser. And it is not only fertiliser. We are opening those doors for all farm inputs. The whole idea is to bring down the prices of these inputs at the nearest minimum so that farmers can access them at reasonable prices.

Warehouse for fertilizers 

“Phosphate fertilisers alone, we are bringing in 35,000 metric tonnes not to mention nitrogen fertilisers. We expect these quantity  to reasonably cover the demand.

“NIMET has predicted a very short rainy season. We have received that forecast with a lot of misgivings. The least we can do is to educate our farmers and to engage  seed suppliers to introduce short, early maturing variety of crops. We are not taking that lightly”, he said.

According to Commercial Agricultural Development  Project (ACDP) Nigeria, about  56%  of Kaduna’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP,  with  4 million people involved.

The state produces 22 percent of  Nigeria’s  maize, 69% of  the country’s soya bean, 36 % of cotton and 10% of ground nuts.