Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has inaugurated the sales of fertilizer at subsidised rates to farmers in the state, for the 2022 wet cropping season.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony on Saturday in Naborco community, Toro Local Government Area, the governor however, cautioned against the sales of adulterated fertilizers to farmers.
According to him, government has decided to make fertilizer available and affordable to farmers, by subsidising the price of the commodity, hence any attempt to sabotage the effort will be resisted.
The governor expressed concern over activities of some selfish and unpatriotic citizens, who engaged in adulterating all kinds of agricultural inputs and sales to farmers.
He directed the ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and that of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, to immediately constitute a task force committee comprising security agencies and all other stakeholders, to arrest and deal with all culprits.
He stated that he was already aware that the agro-input dealers union of the state had started fighting against the ugly trend and assured the union of the support of the state government.
The governor stressed that the annual launching of the farming season and flag off of the sale of fertilizer, were deliberate efforts by the government to motivate farmers.
“Consequently, a 50Kg bag of NPK would be sold at N15,000, while a 50Kg bag of Urea would be sold at N20,000,” he said.
He urged farmers to come out in their large numbers, for the production of sufficient food crops, that would cater for the increasing population as well as embrace agriculture as an economic mainstay.
Mohammed lamented that the paucity of funds had been a constraint to the government towards meeting its various obligations.
“In spite of this constraint, however, the agricultural sector has been accorded the priority it deserves.
“This priority can be attested to, by the settlement of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) inherited debt, which enabled the state government to produce fertilisers last year,” he said.
The governor explained that already, approval had been granted to the Bauchi State Agricultural Supply Company (BASAC) for the procurement and sale of agricultural inputs at a subsidised price.