The Federal Government says the local production of blended fertilizer has saved the country N112bn. The Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu made this known at the weekend during an audience participation programme titled Hannu Ya Dawa organized by FRCN Kaduna. While giving a breakdown of the figure, Shehu said about N52bn usually spent on foreign exchange as well as the N60bn budgetary allocation for fertilizer subsidy were all saved by the current administration.
He disclosed that efforts were ongoing to deliver four million bags of NPK fertilizers to farmers at affordable price under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI). He hinted that though the country currently has 11 fertilizer plants, the number would grow to 18 before December. The Special Assistant to the President stressed that the issues of scarcity and high cost of fertilizer that have been the main problem of the sector had been resolved by the Buhari Administration.
‘‘The problem of the shortage of fertilizers and its attendant high cost plaguing the nation’s agricultural production, seemingly intractable for decades, have been resolved following the successful execution of the mandate of the PFI. Since the implementation of the Initiative, the six million 50kg bags of NPK fertilizers were purchased by State governments and agro-dealers across the country.’’
‘‘Last year, a bag of 50kg NPK fertilizer was sold at N10, 900 in Benue State. Today the same commodity is being sold at about N6, 500 in different locations across the country, while the government-approved price is N5, 500. A bag of maize which was sold at N21, 000 last year was currently being sold at an average of N10, 000. This is an indication that the Initiative has enhanced food security as a result of the increase in food production. There is also a reduction in food-induced inflation while economic activities across the agriculture value chain are very impressive,’’ he added.
