Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo has said that his administration would continue to accord agriculture the attention it deserves as he flagged-off the commencement of the 2018 fertilizer sales for this year’s farming season.
The Governor stated this Friday afternoon at the State’s Fertilizer Blending Company, pointing out that it has been the policy of his administration to support the over seventy per cent (70%) of the people of the State who engage in farming activities with agricultural inputs like fertilizer, improved seeds, chemicals, equipment among many others.
He said the administration had procured over 160,000 metric tons of fertilizer since the inception of the administration in 2011, adding that the agricultural inputs are sold to farmers at subsidized rates in order to improve productivity.
He announced that “Government has procured 10,000 metric tons of Urea along with substantial quantity of NPK 20-10-10 from the Presidential Special Fertilizer Intervention Programme. We have entered into Public Private Partnership with AFCOTT Nigeria Limited for blending of NPK 20-10-10 at the at the Gombe blending plant”.
He said, having considered the high cost of fertilizer in the market and the need to support its farmers, the Government decided to fix the price of fertilizer at N4, 900 for a bag of NPK and N5, 900 for a bag of Urea.
Earlier, the State Commissioner of Agriculture, Alhaji Dahiru Buba Biri, had regretted that due to bank bureaucracies, previous year’s flag-offs came mostly in the month of July when most crops had passed the time they critically needed the fertilizer and commended the Governor for steps taken to ensure that fertilizer and improved seeds are distributed at the very early part of the rainy season.
He called on farmers to promptly report noticed pests in their farms to enable prompt advice, guidance and control measures as well as continue to repay any facility given by Government or Banks.
He also called on the youths, especially in the rural areas, to continue to form themselves into cooperative unions adding that Government and most financing agencies find it more comfortable to finance agriculture through cooperatives.
