Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the Federal Government’s fertiliser distribution scheme is a failure in Osun.
He rejected claims by the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, that 3.5 million farmers had benefited from it through the Growth Enhancement Programme, arguing that “no farmer in Osun benefited from the initiative”.
Aregbesola spoke in Abuja at the 19th Nigerian Economic Summit while participating in a debate centred on “Growing Agriculture at the state level”.
Adesina said: “The old fertiliser business was just a racket. In the old times, people just filled papers at the federal level. Fertiliser did not get distributed and people got paid. With President Goodluck Jonathan’s support, we cleaned up that sector and the state governments participated. The Federal Government’s participation is 25 per cent and state governments pay 25 per cent of the subsidy.
“When we started last year, we reached 1.5 million farmers. This year, we have reached about 3.5 million farmers and we expect to reach five million more before the end of the dry season. So it is that synergy between the federal and state governments to take agriculture as a business, rather than a development programme, that makes things work.”
Responding to the minister’s comments, Aregbesola said: “If Osun had benefited from the scheme, the state government would not have spent about N1 billion on fertiliser for farmers. I see the spirit, the zeal and the passion of the minister of Agriculture. However, the fertiliser distribution did not get to my state.
“Whatever the governor of Anambra State experienced, I did not experience. I committed close to N1 billion to procuring fertiliser when the one arranged through the agents you put together failed. That is the truth. We cannot continue to pretend that all is well.”
The governor debunked claims by the Federal Government that youths were interested in agriculture, saying: “We have spent billions of naira clearing lands and giving them to farmers, but the few of them that went there have done nothing. They know roaming about the streets begging for money pays better than staying on the farm.
“The solution to this problem is the creation of incentives for farming. There must be a guaranteed minimum price for agricultural produce to enable farmers live comfortable lives. If that is not there, we are joking. Most farmers would not want to farm because farming today is still not a business in Nigeria.” Aregbesola urged the government to give zero-interest loans to farmers. Source: The Nation, Nigeria.
