The Federal Government has said it has registered about 5 million smallholder farmers for easy distribution of subsidised fertilizers for maximum food production.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, disclosed this on Monday at a Consultative meeting with relevant stakeholders on the development of template for the administration of subsidy to the smallholder farmers on a sustainable basis.
He said the Ministry has developed and registered the database of smallholder farmers for easy targeting with the fertilizer subsidy support.
“Preparatory to the provision of the subsidy support, I wish to inform you that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have registered and developed the database of the smallholder farmers for easy targeting with the fertilizer subsidy support.
“So far about 5 million farmers and their farms have been registered with biometrics including farm GIS coordinates.
“This meeting is therefore organised to critically examine the proposed option and come up with the best way or strategy to reach the smallholder farmers with the subsidy support in sustainable manner.
He said the primary concern of Government is how to get majority of the smallholder farmers out of extreme poverty through targeted support in order to increase their level of productivity, household incomes and by extension guarantee food security for the nation.
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He, however, said that President Buhari has approved that, an implementation template be developed through consultative engagement with the relevant stakeholders on the best way of administering fertilizer subsidy to the them nationwide on sustainable basis.
On her part, the Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said this meeting was being convened at the instance of President Buhari to discuss how to effectively implement a restructured Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) for its sustainability.
The Minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mallam Aliyu Ahmed, said the PFI was to stop the importation of specifically NPK fertilizers and pave the way for its local production, thereby reviving Nigeria’s local fertilizer blending industry.
“While the initiative, a Public-Private Partnership that has the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) representing the public achieved great progress; its time to shift gears for market-oriented sustainability,” she said.
The Minister, however, said the engagement will be guided by 4 fundamental changes upon which sustainability will be built, which includes “the role of NAIC-NPK be restricted to the importation of the raw materials, monitoring activities and provision of cost basis for FGN to effectively calculate and pay subsidies as for vulnerable smallholder farmers.
“All fertilizer blending plants participating in the PFI now have to provide bank guarantees to cover requisite raw materials appropriate to their demand-driven production in order to substantially reduce risk to NSIA.
“All blending plants are to handle their transportation logistics, recover their production cost and profits through the sale of their products in the market.
“The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP) through engagement with State Governments and relevant stakeholders to develop a template for administering fertilizer subsidy management framework to the smallholder farmers.”
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