Association commends FG for revisiting GES scheme


Dr Tunde Arosanyin, National Coordinator, Zero Hunger Commodities Association, has commended the Federal Government for revisiting the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme for 2016/2017 dry season farming to boost productivity.

Arosanyin made the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said that the scheme, initiated by the last administration, was aimed at reaching to about five to nine million farmers across the country with good quality seeds, fertiliser and pesticides.

According to him, both government and farmers will contribute to the cost of acquiring farming input, as part of the subsidy scheme.

“It is good news that the government, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, has responded positively to the clarion call, by revisiting the GES scheme.

“In the last one year, stakeholders in the agricultural sector have been advocating that government revisits the issue of supply of input to farmers it suspended because of some challenges.

“Government has responded positively, and I want to appreciate the effort of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, for being able to bring the scheme back. ‎

“As I speak, some of our farmers in 12 pilot states: Adamawa, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kano, Imo, Rivers, Sokoto, Zamfara and FCT- have begun to receive seeds.

‘’The seeds are; rice, sorghum, maize, millet, fertiliser and some other inputs, at 50 per cent subsidy.”
Arosanyin noted that the development would improve food production, reduce price of food items and save the people from hunger.

He said the extension of the scheme to the rainy season would go a long way to create employment and provide more raw materials for the agro-allied sector in the country.

The national coordinator advised government to monitor the scheme closely, to avoid the problem the past administration had with the agro-allied dealers.

Arosanyin also urged government not to succumb to the request in some quarters to import maize.

He said it was not at a critical time for the country to do so, especially in the case of crops it could produce locally. ‘’We don’t need to import them.’’

“The government is doing everything possible to address some of these challenges that the country is facing,’’ Arosanyin said.

NAN reports that GES scheme is a government initiative under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), aimed at subsidising the cost of major agricultural input, such as fertiliser and seeds, to farmers.

Under the initiative, farmers access the input through electronic distribution channel known as the e-Wallet.

The e-Wallet scheme stipulates that a farmer, registered under the scheme, pays 50 per cent of the cost of farm input, while the Federal and State Governments pay 25 per cent each.


One of the requirements for the scheme is the national farmers’ registration, where farmers’ data are captured into the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s central data bank.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10,000 women farmers to be engaged in ECOWAS rice project – official

Image
 Mr Richard Olafare, the President, Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) says 10,000 women will be engaged in the recently inaugurated Rice Seed Up-Scaling Project. This is contained in a presentation on the project made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday. Olafare said 8,000 youths would also be engaged in the scaling project. According to him, the number of women and youths represented 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of the 20,000 farmers that will participate in the project. NAN reports that the project is an initiative of the West Africa Seed Programme (WASP) in support of the ECOWAS Rice Offensive Programme that was inaugurated in 2014. Among other objectives, it is targeting the production of 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice for Nigeria by December 2017, using 1,200 certified seeds. The project is being implemented by SEEDAN in collaboration with the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultura...
Read more

Tomato disease outbreak: Institute appeals for research funding

The National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, has appealed for funding to carry out research and create awareness on the tuta absoluta pest on tomatoes. The Institute’s Head of Vegetable Programme, Dr Olagorite Adetula, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday that there was an urgent need to tackle the problem to save the economy. Adetula said the institute needed money to do surveillance survey of the pest/damage, ascertain the impact of the damage and proffer solution for eradicating the pest. She appealed to the Federal Government to help the institute get pheromones to lure and trap the pests and distribute to farmers. ``Spraying insecticides is not the best, the pest has high production rate, some of them can escape while spraying it and they will be resistant to the insecticide thereby causing us more cost. ``The pheromones can be used for six to eight weeks before changing it, it is very effective, the pest has short life cycle, wit...
Read more

Monsanto Nigeria Launches 3 Conventional Maize Hybrids

Maize farmers across Nigeria now have 3 high yielding conventional maize hybrids to choose from the DEKALB ® brand as Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited launches 3 conventional maize hybrids. The launch held in Abuja on Tuesday May 17 2016 had in attendance farmers, development partners, government regulatory bodies and other stakeholders from both the private and public sectors of the economy. The launch of these hybrid seeds follows their registration by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock Breeds and Fisheries in February 2016. The white maize hybrid, DK234 alongside the 2 yellow maize hybrids, DK920 and DK818 obtained registration approval for use in Nigeria after testing across various agro ecological zones on multi-location farms. The white maize hybrid DK234 with yield potential of 13 tonnes per hectare is well adapted for the Southern and Northern Guinea Savanna ecologies and shows tolerance to Maize Streak Virus, ...
Read more