Nasarawa State government has opted out of the fertiliser component of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme, GES under the federal government’s agricultural transformation agenda. The Commissioner for Information and Reorientation¸ Hamza Elayo, said this when he addressed newsmen on the outcome of Tuesday’s state Executive Council meeting on Wednesday. He said the state government decided to opt-out of the e-wallet system of fertiliser distribution due to the various challenges facing the system. According to him, most farmers in the rural communities across the state are not able to access fertiliser during the last cropping season. The commissioner said this was as a result of their inability to use mobile phones as required by the e-wallet scheme. Elayo said the delay in allocation of fertiliser to states under the GES scheme was another factor that affected farmers adversely in the state last cropping season. He said council applauded the state government’s initiative to purchase and distribute 4,500 tonnes of fertiliser to farmers across the state in the 2013 cropping season. “Council noted with satisfaction the success so far recorded with the new fertiliser distribution mechanism of government by making fertiliser available at all polling units for farmers to buy,” he added. The commissioner maintained that the new approach to fertiliser distribution had resulted in glut of the product in the state, adding that it would be sustained. Elayo said the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA had been mandated to embark on intense advocacy in order to avert the level of devastation witnessed in 2012. He said council equally urged flood-prone communities in the state to heed to NIMET early warning by moving to higher grounds as precautionary measure.
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