Leadership (Abuja)
Grace Azubuike
2 April 2008
The Federal Government has approved the procurement of 650,000 tonnes of fertiliser for the 2008 planting season, just as three firms have have been given the approval to participate in the procurement and distribution.
Dr. Abba Sayyadi Ruma, the minister of agriculture and water resources made this revelation Monday at a media briefing on the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS) in Abuja,he said out of 321 applications for pre-qualification, 96 firms were invited to tender but only three firms were qualified to participate. Also, the government would partner with the private sector, to mark the beginning of a new fertiliser regime aimed at avoiding the pitfall of the past and a litmus test for the Yar'Adua's administration.
Ruma stated that fertiliser subsidy would cease as from 2009, adding that the new policy would guarantee effective fertiliser administration, economic efficiency, high crop yields and food security.
The minister hinted that to meet with the basic requirements for adequate food security, government had also repositioned various agricultural programmes which would focus on the production of three major crops including rice, wheat and sugar cane.
He added that private intervention on tractorisation and cooperative initiative would also be given priority. He stressed the need to increase the tractor density from 30,000 for over 14 million farmers to over four million tractors.
"The way forward is through private sector participation and it will be sold at 25 per cent subsidy to farmers through cooperative society."
According to him, the government was examining key factors like access to assets, marketing, storage, technology and financial input that had direct impact on the over 70 per cent rural farmers, and the challenge ahead was to ensure adequate support for agriculture, to enhance the rural farmers' productivity for a better dividend and steady food for the nation.
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