Farmers protest against delay in fertilizer distribution

 

Nigeria's farmers of the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) chapter has demanded for the immediate release of the 6,800 fertiliser bags meant for them to grow rainy season food for year 2026.

The protesters who were majorly farmers of the FCT farmers' chapter, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) were demanding for the immediate release of fertilizer running to about 6800 bags that are meant for them.

The leader of the protesters, Chairman of the AFAN, FCT Chapter, Dr. Perpetual Okafor  raised concerns over the prolonged delay in the distribution of 6,800 bags of fertiliser allocated to them by National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) farm input support programme.

Okafor claimed that a month after the flag off of 2026 fertilizer distribution, farmers especially in the FCT were yet to get their allocations saying they were demanding for clarification about the items whereabout from the chief security officer of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security ( FMAFS)

According to her, the Federal Government launched the farm input support programme for five states, including the FCT, on June 16 as each farmer is expected to receive four bags of fertiliser with three bags of NPK and a bag of urea to support cultivation during the ongoing wet farming season.

Okafor explained that the programme operates on a 60-40 sharing formula, with AFAN responsible for distributing 60 per cent of the allocated inputs directly to farmers, while the FCT Administration handles the remaining 40 per cent.

She stressed that the delay they were experiencing was contradictory to the promise given on the flag off day saying that they were told the fertiliser would be immediately moved from FMAFS's stock facility in Keffi to FCT for distribution.

She added all effort to get clarification from the concerned quarter on the inputs whereabout yield no result.

"I went there the next day after the flag-off to know how far they had gone with the movement of the fertiliser. I met the Director of Agricultural Services, who assured me that they were still moving the fertiliser from Keffi to Abuja," she said.

"After some days, I returned and received the same explanation. I kept calling and sending messages to the mandated Secretary, but my calls were not answered and my messages received no response"

Said Okafor.

"I signed a MoU with NADF to supervise the distribution of these farm inputs. Today, I don't even know where the fertilizer are. Farmers are holding me responsible because I was the one who informed them about the program"she said.

"Our farmers decided to go to the ministry because we have not seen any action. The Chief Security Officer came out to address us and assured us that efforts will be made to ensure the fertiliser is released" said the chairman 

" The Chief Security Officer became the focus of the farmers' protest because he is responsible for monitoring the movement and distribution of the farm inputs to prevent diversion.