It's still possible to resume the GES, says Cellulant Boss

As the rumour of Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) programme for efficient inputs distribution to small holder farmers continue to garner momentum, the chief principal operator of the technology in Nigeria has said that its return within a short window is possible, but the revalidation of the farmers’ data need to start immediately, being a proposed strategy by Messrs Cellulant to Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD).


The Co- Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cellulant Corporation, Mr. Bolaji Akinboro told Food Farm News yesterday in his office at Abuja.

Akinboro lamented on why Government has decided to jettison a technology that has been widely acknowledged to be efficient in inputs distribution to farmers across the country through electronic wallet, and which many countries have replicated after Nigeria, saying its achievement was so evident as one of the credentials that made Dr. Akin Adesina stand out during the elections for the President of African Development Bank (AfDB).

He stressed that the plan for the small holder farmers in Nigeria by 2019 was that Government would not need to give inputs subsidy any more as more than 17 million farmers would have been moved from subsistence to commercial level had it been the programme was not stopped since 2016.

Responding to the question whether the return of Ges may be too late, he said  ‘’ the point is that we have lost momentum in the plan we have developed for Ges. The idea is that by 2019 Government should not be subsidizing fertilizers and other inputs, and the record to show all these are there as the whole system of Agriculture should be commercially viable by now according to the whole plan. Almost 16 million farmers should have been migrated from subsistent farming to commercial farmers. Now in the last five years the whole national plan have been truncated, and the country has to revalidate the entire plan afresh as all the process with 5700 distribution points and data must be re-afresh to start again. It is doable but now with more commitment’’

He stressed that the business of Government is to ensure  process and structure that would enhance productivity in Agriculture, education, health sector, electricity, transportation and many other ones, adding that the present COVID-19 situation in the country is an evident of none preparedness for anything including food security situation of the country.

The Cellulant CEO said that the good thing is that the present Agric minister is very aware of the Ges’s achievement, adding that the indicators are there for food crisis. In 2015, a bag of rice was not up to N9, 000.00, but now in 2019, a bag of rice is N19, 000.00. We don’t need any doctor to tell us something is wrong.

Speaking on the way forward for the sector, Mr. Akinboro suggested a return of Ges in more modified way that would include all the value chains of agricultural stakeholders in one electronic wallet where all the distribution points of inputs during the time of Ges will also accommodate all other economic contributors to a processed food, rather than raw in one market place.