Farmers in Orozo want FG to release fertiliser early for planting

SOME farmers in Angwa Hakimi in Orozo in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Friday appealed to the Federal Government to release fertilisers to them early for planting.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who spoke to the farmers in separate interviews, reported that the farmers appealed that getting fertilisers early would assist them to plant early now that the rains had started.

Mr Peter Magaji, one of the farmers, told NAN that if the Federal Government could release fertilisers on time, it would enable farmers to plant and harvest early.

According to Magaji, some crops like maize and melon, which are planted early before heavy rains, needed fertilisers early to make them grow and produce well.

He said that farmers got fertilisers late from the government last year which was responsible for the low yields.

Magaji urged the Federal Government to distribute fertilisers early to farmers to facilitate good yields.

Mr James Haruna, another farmer, also called on the government to ensure that the farmers got fertilisers early for planting.

He said that government should make sure that fertilisers reached farmers directly and not through middlemen.

Haruna said that the fertilisers, which they bought directly from government, were always cheaper than those from the middlemen and open market.

He said that some of farmers, who bought the fertilisers from government last year, purchased them at N3, 000 per bag, while they were N5, 500 at the open market.

Haruna said that the price differential was affecting mostly the poor subsistent farmers who could not afford to buy from the open market.

Mr Lukas Peter, another farmer, called on government to release fertilisers early to farmers and also provide silos to enable them preserve their crops, mostly the perishable ones such as tomatoes, peppers and onions, among others.

Peter also urged the Federal Government to assist the farmers by providing soft loans to them to assist them in carrying on their farming activities.

According to him, the farmers in Orozo had formed a cooperative society to enable them get loans, but they had not been able to get loans from the banks.

He said the conditions the banks were giving to them were very stringent and called on the government to help them get loans from banks.