Agric Ministry introduces new measures for fertiliser allocation

Bauchi State Director in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf, has described as successful the 2013/14 E-Wallet System of fertiliser allocation and distribution in the country.

To this end, he said, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture is soon to introduce the National Agricultural Payment Initiative (NAPI) as a boost to the e-wallet system geared to biometrically capture the data of all farmers under the scheme.

He attributed the non-implementation of the e-wallet fertiliser allocation this year to change of administration at the central level, and the non-payment of outstanding payment to agro dealers who supply the fertiliser.

The director who spoke in an interview with journalists yesterday in Bauchi, said however that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture is doing everything possible to offset the outstanding arrears to the fertiliser suppliers towards making headway in the programme.

“There is also this new programme that is coming up, the National Agricultural Payment Initiative (NAPI) in which we are going to capture biometrical data of all farmers which is an improved version of the e-wallet system.”

According to him, successes recorded during the last e-wallet system of fertiliser allocation will be fused into the new programme, as errors noticed during the e-wallet system are consolidated into the new NAPI scheme.

Yusuf stated that the ministry made all necessary arrangements to continue implementation of the e-wallet fertiliser allocation this year but for one of the impediments which was the non-payment of outstanding arrears to agro dealers who supply the commodity.

“The non-payment of the outstanding arrears was the main cause that has not allowed the implementation of the programme this year, but  efforts are being made by the ministry to offset the outstanding arrears,” he said.

He recalled that the e-wallet allocation system in which farmers use GSM to redeem fertiliser had experienced some problems such as lack of GSM by some farmers, and the problem of network especially in rural areas, hence the introduction of electronic identification cards for farmers to operate like the ATM.

“Under the new system, cards will be issued to farmers with national identification numbers. It is a smart card just like the ATM cards whereby at any given time farmers can access inputs without problem of network, they can go into banks and make transactions using Point of Sale (POS) machines, they can access loans, and so forth.”

Yusuf described NAPI as consolidated success recorded under the e-wallet system that could be implemented in future, saying registration under NAPI is soon to commence.

He called on farmers to get  ready for registration under the new programme that could be partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Identity Management Commission and state governments for farmers’ registration.

Yusuf also revealed that about 700, 000 farmers registered and benefitted from the e-wallet system of fertiliser allocation in Bauchi State in the last two years and implored farmers to ensure that they got registered under the new NAPI programme.