· *Farmers fault GESS’ replacement.
Agricultural Input Mechanization Scheme |
The announcement
of the Federal Government Agricultural Inputs Mechanization Scheme (AIMS)made earlier by
the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has been
described by the stakeholders as premature and just a mere show off when
actually nothing has been put in place to justify its publicity, just as many
farmers have expressed their disapproval on the replacement of Growth
Enhancement Scheme (GES) of inputs-distribution-through-electronic-wallet
scheme with a new one.
Food Farm News reliably gathered that the AIMS
which had been officially slated to take off some months ago has been reliably
confirmed as still at preparatory level that did not justify any announcement as
there was no preparation yet towards achieving the core targets of the programme as
necessary arrangements including the involvement of the agro dealers and seed companies
are yet to be put in place.
AIMS,
according to our finding is meant to bridge the gap created by the GES, especially
in the area of injecting availability of simple mechanization tools to farmers
towards tractor hiring for land clearing at all the local government councils
of the federation.
But some
stakeholders have expressed their displeasure at the discontinuation of GESS as
the programme introduced by Jonathan Administration may have been technically replaced with
AIMS.
A source who
spoke with Foodfarmnews on condition
of anonymity disclosed that the scheme was initiated to reach-out to farmers in the
774 local governments across the country and thatit was aimed at closing the
policy gap between the Federal and local governments in best agronomics,
farming and land clearing practices with availability of simple machineries and
other inputs support at the grassroots.
Said an insider
“The big question is what happens to the agro dealers and seed companies that
were used during the last GESS and who are yet to be paid and briefed about the
new programme?Also,we are yet to discuss whether AIMS is going to be Public
Private Partnership (PPP), subsidy or aself-sponsoredprogramme. A committee has
been established without any plan/report tabled towards charting a way forward,
and the minister just announced the programme without anything to expedite
action for its takeoff”
The Vice President, Root and Tubers, All Farmers
Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Chief Daniel Okafor expressed regret about government
policy formulation without involvement of farmers saying “There is always a
policy somersault. This government will bring this one and when another person
comes, he will bring another one irrespective of whether it is good or not. If
we continue waiting for the government, we might not farm. We cannot continue
waiting for policies but if they want to make any policy, let them carry
farmers along. The most important thing is to know why the scheme was changed
and what they are trying to achieve. We will rather prefer the government to
amend what the previous government did instead of bringing a new one”.
National Coordinator, Zero Hunger Farmers Association of
Nigeria, Dr. TundeArosanyin, described the electronic wallet system of the GES
scheme as fantastic, but noted that it recorded some gaps in the area of
farmers’ capturing.
He recalled that under that system, old women farmers
from Kwara, Kaduna, Imo and Oyo States got text messages on their phones
requesting them to come and collect inputs in some centers without knowing any
of the officials.
Arosanyin, who also doubles as the National Technical
Adviser of AFAN, called for the proper integration of GES gaps into the
implementation of AIMS, wondering,“How will the percentage of the subsidy be
captured? How will they identify farmers? Are they going to use the initial
platform of the GES?”
National President, Concerned Youths Empowerment
Association of Nigeria (CYEAN), Mr. Noble Adaelu, also expressed regret over
the sudden replacement of the GES scheme. He noted that the programmes impacted
the lives of many farmers across the country saying there was need for a
holistic approach to tackle challenges in the agriculture sector.
The Chief Executive Officer, Fresh and Young Brains
Development Initiative, Miss NkirukaNnaemego, suggested that AIMS should
address some identified challenges of the GES saying that “If AIMS is
strengthened without starting a different programme, it will be very good. The
GES was actually helping farmers with agricultural inputs and fertilizer. The
AIMS will be good if it is implemented”
“The challenge of small scale farmers, especially for
youth and women is mechanization. My advice to the government is to continue in
the strength of the GES. There were certain things that worked well during the
GES scheme “There was a Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach but I didn’t
see more involvement of the young people in GES.
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