Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi
Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed at the weekend flagged off the 2022 farming season and sales of fertilisers, announcing N15,000 and N20,000 as the subsidied prices for each bag of NPK and Urea respectively.
At the launch of the sales of the fertiliser held at BSADP Nabardo, Toro local government, the governor said despite the high competition for the supply of the fertilisers, the state government was highly committed to providing the commodity so that farmers would get it at reasonable price.
He said in order to improve and modernise agricultural production, the Bauchi State Agricultural Development Programme (BSADP) has been rendering agricultural extension services to farmers, partnering with Agricultural Research Institutes for sourcing improved agricultural innovations for use by farmers to enhance productivity.
Mohammed also said approval had been granted to the Bauchi State Agricultural Supply Company (BASAC) for the procurement and sale of agricultural inputs at subsidised prices.
“The annual launching of farming season and flag-off of sale of fertiliser is a deliberate effort by the government to motivate farmers to come out en mass for the production of sufficient food crops to cater for the increasing population and also to embrace agriculture as an economic mainstay.
“The total number of fertiliser to be sold in this year’s farming season is 8,500 metric tonnes.
“The paucity of funds has 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 fertiliser last year.
“It may interest the general public to know that Ukraine is the world largest producer of ammonia which is the major ingredient for the production of fertiliser. The current war between Russia and Ukraine has made the production of the raw material by Ukraine impossible which lowers its supply with the attendant hike in the price of fertiliser worldwide.”
The governor said the state government has also signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tetfund Centre of Excellence of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi in a move to educate young people on new farming techniques, saying it became imperative for the government to properly harness both its human and land resources for optimum agricultural production for economic prosperity.
He said the state government was also committed to the development of the livestock sub-sector and had taken appropriate measures to ensure the breeding of healthy livestock through the approval for the release of N44 million for the annual livestock vaccination for the year 2022.
Mohammed said Bauchi State was recently selected to participate in a World Bank funded project tagged “ACRESAL” where millions of naira would be shared among the benefiting states based on performance in three areas of agriculture, environment and water resources.
Earlier, the State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Jidauna Tula Mbami appreciated Mohammed for according the agricultural sector with the highest attention and assured that his ministry will remain focus towards ensuring full implementation of his agricultural policies and programme.
