Over 1m farmers get direct N5.2b fertilizer subsidy, says Pres. Buhari’s Aide

The Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to President Mohammadu Buhari on food security matters, Dr. Andrew Kwasari has said that over one million farmers in all the thirty-seven states of the federation, FCT inclusive benefitted in the last year wet season inputs subsidy, totaling Five billion, One hundred and Ninety-one million, Five hundred and thirty thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty Naira (N5, 191,530, 730), paid directly into their accounts to checkmate the usual fertilizer corruption through government procurement.

Dr. Kwasari speaking to Foodfarmnews in his office exclusively disclosed that in the Mr. President’s strong desire to boost food production in view of 2020 Covid-19 pandemic had initiated direct subsidy support to small scale farmers, so as to ensure that the real beneficiaries got the direct payment for personal purchase of fertilizers and other inputs to grow their crops and animals against food scarcity.

 The crop farmers and agro-pastoralists are respectively in the figures of 861,429 and 151,697 to give the total figure of 1,013,126 beneficiaries, which according to the SSA gulped N5,191,530,730 being expended on 2021 wet season fertilizers and other livestock inputs through direct payment into their accounts for them to buy inputs of their choice personally.

Dr. Kwasari stressed that the 2021 wet season subsidy support by the president strictly followed the principle of gender balance as about 267,252 women farmers benefitted along with their male counterparts of 745, 874, saying that the effort has really positively impacted on the food security situation of the country in view of the negative impact of Covid pandemic on the global food situation.

He described these beneficiaries as ‘’ batch A’’ saying that the initial budget for the exercise was  N6,096,097,520 until the removal of 184,977 farmers that did not provide their detailed account numbers, saying this now reduced the expenditure to N5,191, 530, 730 while the rest farmers were moved to batch B.

However, the minimum an individual farmer could receive as financial support is three thousand naira, and N24, 000.00 as maximum according to Dr. Kwarsari.