FEPSAN decries increased adulteration of fertiliser

FERTILIZERS Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) has said that despite the increased blending of fertilizer locally,  adulteration of the products has been on the increase.

Chairman of FEPSAN and Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) Mr Thomas Etuh stated this at the stakeholders meeting for developing and implementing regulations for the National Fertiliser Quality Control Bill organized by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Abuja.

He said “with the increase in the local blending of fertilizer today and the growing demand for fertilizer, adulteration has been on the increase without any real check on the activities of these fraudsters,” he said.

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The FEPSAN chairman who was represented by Gideon Negedu expressed worry that law enforcement agents are restricted in their ability to curb the “ugly trend in the bud due to weak enabling laws” adding that “this has seriously hampered and discouraged private sector investments because of the damage these activities have on reliable brands.”

He revealed that currently,  there 18 functional blending plants in the country with 11 more plants to added and an annual capacity of 4 million metric tonnes.

Earlier in his welcome address, the AGRA Country Representative, Dr Makinde Kehinde stressed that for the country to achieve food security and income generation for the smallholder farmers, a vibrant fertilizer industry was needed to strengthen crop yield.

He said the fertilizer system in the country was not properly developed, which had led to unregulated activities and quality control issues.

Dr Kehinde said AGRA was helping the country through reforms in order to improve the system that will ensure farmers have access to quality fertilizer in the country.