14th August, 2014
The Chairman of Kabo Local Government Area in Kano State, Murtala Sulen-Garo, has appealed to the Federal Government to allocate more fertiliser to farmers in the area.
Sulen-Garo made the appeal in an interview with NAN in Kabo Town on Wednesday. He said the appeal became necessary because the 11,780 bags of fertiliser allocated to the area were inadequate due to the large number of farmers in the area.
He said that only 5,890 out of over 11,000 registered farmers in the area benefitted from the Federal Government’s fertiliser policy this cropping season.
“We received 11,780 bags of fertiliser but only 5,890 out of more than 11,000 registered farmers received the commodity this year.
“Most of our people in this area are local farmers who rely solely on government’s subsidised fertiliser and other inputs,” he said.
The chairman also called on the Federal Government to review the mode of distribution of the commodity as most of the local farmers had no cell phones with which to receive the text messages.
“The whole aim is to assist local farmers to access the commodity, but not all the farmers have cell phones.
“Any farmer who does not have cell phone should be able to collect the commodity at the redemption centres, provided he is a genuine farmer,” he said.
He expressed optimism that if the programme was reviewed, it would help in alleviating the sufferings of local farmers.
“The scheme is good but there is need for government to review it with a view to achieving total success,” he said.