Farmers in Dutse, Jigawa, have appealed to the Federal Government to expand the scope of the Growth Enhancement Support scheme (GES) programme to enhance access to fertiliser and other inputs at the grassroots.<\/p>\n
The farmers made the call in separate interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Dutse.<\/p>\n
The Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) is one of the critical components of the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).<\/p>\n
It was designed for the specific purpose of providing affordable agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and hybrid seeds to farmers in order to increase their yields per hectare and make it comparable to world standard.<\/p>\n
The scheme’s approach is to target beneficiaries through the use of electronic system known as e-wallet, by encouraging the engagement of the private sector in the distribution and delivery of fertilisers and other critical inputs directly to farmers.<\/p>\n
NAN reports that farmers in Dutse have commenced the clearing of farmlands in preparation for the farming season.<\/p>\n
Malam Hamisu Maigiro, a maize farmer, said the call was imperative in view of the limited number of farmers registered under the GES programme.<\/p>\n
Maigoro noted that the GES initiative had dealt with the difficulties experienced by farmers in accessing fertiliser.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is the need for government to expand the scheme to promote participation and enable more farmers to benefit from it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Another farmer, Ismaila Haruna, said that early distribution of the commodity was necessary, so as to ease the sufferings of farmers in accessing the commodity.<\/p>\n
Haruna advocated for effective fertiliser distribution measures to guard against its diversion.<\/p>\n
NAN reports that more than 10, 000 registered farmers benefitted from the GES programme in the 2012 farming season.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Jigawa Government has awarded contract for the supply of 6,000 tonnes of assorted fertiliser for distribution to farmers in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Farmers in Dutse, Jigawa, have appealed to the Federal Government to expand the scope of the Growth Enhancement Support scheme (GES) programme to enhance access to fertiliser and other inputs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n