At a time many Nigerians are optimistic that President Muhammadu Buhari, will invest the nation’s resources in buying farming equipments, improve seeds and breeds and making fertilizer available at a subsidized cost to farmers, in order to rejuvenate the agricultural sector, the reverse unfortunately has been the case.
It could be recalled that former President, Goodluck Jonathan, had through the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme, GES, championed by the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who is now the President of African Development Bank, transformed the agricultural sector, through the e-wallet system, which significantly boosted the production of various agricultural products in the country.
Related: Jonathan has delivered on agriculture – PDP
Jonathan, had in one of his statement said, “With Pride, I am able to again affirm, I eat rice grown in Nigeria.
“It is a matter of honour that more and more of the rice eaten in Nigeria now originates from Nigeria.
“As President, my goal is to work hard so that no citizen is hungry. We are making progress in eliminating hunger”.
Related: I eat Nigerian grown rice – Jonathan
The GES scheme lunched in 2012, was part of the Agriculture Transformation Agenda of the Jonathan administration, which was aimed at achieving food security, youth and women empowerment, increasing income for farmers, as well as curtailing the activities of middlemen in the sale and distribution of fertilizers and seedlings in the country.
Adesina, had in a public statement said, “Transforming Nigeria’s Agriculture” at the inauguration of the Agriculture and Food Security Center of the Earth Institute of Columbia University New York, in September 2013 listed the gains from GES and ATA, noting that the agricultural sector had witnessed a major transformation since he became a minister.
“Within the first 90 days of my term as minister, we ended four decades of fertilizer sector corruption.
“We launched the Growth Enhancement Support scheme to provide subsidised inputs to farmers.
“To reach farmers directly with seeds and fertilizers, we developed the Electronic Wallet System, which allows farmers to receive subsidised electronic vouchers for their seeds and fertilizers on their mobile phones.
“Nigeria is the first country in Africa, possibly in the world to develop the electronic wallet system for targeting farmers with subsidised farm inputs.
“In 2012, 1.5 million smallholder farmers got their subsidised seeds and fertilizers using their mobile phones.
Related: Jonathan’s Fertilizer management reforms
”This had an impact on 7.5 million persons. So far this year (2013), over 3.5 million farmers have received their subsidised inputs via the Electronic Wallet Scheme.
“We have expanded the GES programme beyond crops to provide support for fisheries, livestock and mechanization services.
“To reach even more farmers, we embarked on the nation’s first ever registration of farmers.
“This year, we registered 10 million farmers. Farmers now have identity cards that allow us to use their biometric information to target them more effectively,” Adesina said.
The scheme, according to him, accounted for food production which witnessed a boost in 2014/2015.
However, Post-Nigeria gathered that since the emergence of President Buhari, all such initiatives have suffered serious setbacks, as most of them have been scrapped, due to the alleged lack of funds.
Since May 2015, backlog of unpaid debts to fertilizer and seed companies, are now running into billions of naira.
All efforts made by Suppliers under the aegis of Farm Inputs Suppliers Association of Nigeria to persuade the present administration to pay the said sum, has been futile.
According to them, the amount outstanding to date, being the subsidy portion of Federal and State Governments was about N52 billion.
Presently, major agriculture food produce such as rice, beans, and garri have witnessed more than 50 percent increase in price, in the past few monthss.
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