Fertiliser to cost less than N6,000 per bag, says Ogbeh
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, says a bag of fertiliser in the
country will soon cost less than N6,000.
Ogbeh, who gave the assurance when he
appeared on News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, said that
efforts were also underway to establish extension offices in all the
local government areas of the country.
“We’ve just signed an agreement
with Morocco, the President and a few of us went to Morocco and had a
good agreement for phosphate imports. Morocco has the largest deposit
of phosphate in the world.
“And with potassium, those two formed
the three major ingredients in agriculture, although the soil
contains 16 nutrients for the plants, the three big ones are the
nitrogen, the potassium and the phosphate.
“Adding all these up with the
fertiliser we are getting from Morocco, we will put fertiliser on the
market now for less than N6,000.
“But we are also insisting that there
will be blenders in every part of the country so that the cost of
transportation doesn’t compromise the integrity of this programme.
“At N6,000, the farmers are not
complaining because they are now making quite some money.
“The blenders will ensure the
distribution and the new scheme we are going to embark upon from the
middle of this year is that there should be an extension office in
every local government area.
“The office would be a depot for
inputs and also an office for scientists who help the farmer when the
farmer has problems.
The minister, however, assured the
farmers of early distribution of fertilisers, particularly for those
who would engage in this year’s dry season farming across the
country.
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