The Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adeshina has affirmed that despite the criticisms trailing the proposed purchase of cell phones for farmers in the country, the ministry would not go back on its decision.

He maintained that the policy would not only enhance the performance of Nigerian farmers but also transform the agricultural sector.

The Minister disclosed this while addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja. He noted that the government would not commit itself to direct purchase of cell phones for farmers but would only subsidise the phones through a partnership that would involve telephone service operators, Ministry of Communications Technology and other stakeholders.

He disclosed that reason being that the purchase of cell phones for farmers is tied to the distribution of fertilizers directly to the farmers without the involvement of third parties who had allegedly been ripping them off.

He said, "Government policy must always be based on evidence and well analysed data. We carried out an analysis of our GES work based on a large sample of 426,000 farmers from various local government areas in 13 states.