The Benue State Government has earmarked N1.5 billion for the procurement of 400 trucks of assorted brands of fertiliser for distribution and sale to farmers for the 2012 cropping season.
Dr. Eugene Aliegba, the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, announced this in Makurdi on Thursday during the ministry’s accountability news briefing.
Aliegba said that the ministry had awarded the contract for the supply of fertiliser to three contractors to ensure that good quantities of the commodity are supplied in good time.
“These contractors are making frantic efforts to deliver their contract on schedule,” he said.
He also announced the payment of N407 million into the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Escrow Account, to enable farmers in the state to benefit from the Agricultural Transformation Agenda programme of the Federal Government.
The commissioner said that the objective of the approval was to ensure that farmers accessed enough fertiliser and other inputs through the e-wallet system for the 2012 farming activities, adding that the ministry had registered 134,000 farmers under the Federal Government Farmers’ Data Capturing exercise, to enable them benefit directly from the Federal Government’s assistance.
Aliegba further disclosed that government had procured 5,000 units of Knapsack Sprayers at the cost of N45 million for sale to farmers at subsidised rate in the 2012 cropping season.
He pointed out that within the period under review, the state government provided assorted brands of herbicides and insecticides worth N10 million to be sold to farmers during the 2012 cropping season.
He gave assurance that the ministry would commence the sale and distribution of the agro-chemicals before the end of May.
The state government has also established Swine Demonstration Farms to fast track pig production in the state.
The commissioner said some officers had been trained to manage the farms, adding that “exotic, highly prolific and disease resistant pigs” would arrive the state before the end of May.
Aliegba further said that 192 Fadama Community Associations had been registered in the state and were participating in the programme with 2,727 Fadama User Groups.
“The main objective of the project is to sustainably increase the income of participating rural communities.”
Aliegba identified the revenue sources of the ministry to include collection of taxes, fees, levies and other forms of revenue on crops produce, livestock and fishery produce.
However, he expressed regret that the ministry was facing the challenge of untimely release of counterpart funds and expressed fear that the state might be delisted from donor agencies’ assistance.
In a similar development, the Yobe State Government awarded a contract worth N781.8 million for the supply of 6,000 tonnes of Urea to complement the 11,500 tonnes of NPK produced by the state fertiliser company for the 2012 cropping season.
Goni Fika, the state Commissioner for Information, disclosed this on Wednesday at the end of the State Executive Council meeting in Damaturu.
Fika added that the government had approved N734.8 million for the rehabilitation and procurement of digital equipment for the state radio station.
“The council approved N510.3 million for the Yobe Broadcasting Corporation to migrate from the use of analogue to digital equipment,” he said.
“Government also approved N224.5 million for the complete rehabilitation of the radio house, which had not been done since its establishment in 1992.”
