Agriculture: Stakeholders fine-tune the GES draft bill

GES, a government scheme which provides subsidised farm inputs to smallholder farmers directly through their mobile phones, was designed to subsidise inputs for by up to 50%.The federal and state governments contribute 25% each, making 50% while the farmer pays the 50% on redemption.The draft bill seeks for the National Assembly to give the GES […]

GES, a government scheme which provides subsidised farm inputs to smallholder farmers directly through their mobile phones, was designed to subsidise inputs for by up to 50%.
The federal and state governments contribute 25% each, making 50% while the farmer pays the 50% on redemption.
The draft bill seeks for the National Assembly to give the GES a legal status to ensure continuity of the programme after the life of the present administration.
The legal consultant of the bill Prof. Yemi Akinleye George said the bill aimed to promote greater collaboration between the federal, state and local governments and boost agricultural productivity in the country.
Six papers were presented during the meeting, which included Implementation of GES scheme to date, Presentation of GES Technology platform operation, Presentation of Nigerian Agricultural payment Initiative (NAPI) among others.
The Director, Farm Inputs Support Service, Mr. Akinbola Osho, said GES scheme targets 5million resources-poor farmers annually whose farm output is less that 1-3mt/ha by providing 2bags of 50kg fertiliser (1urea + 1NPK), 1 bag of 25kg rice seed/1 bag of 20kg maize seed and micro-nutrient, free of charge.
Osho stressed that GES has in 2014 registered 14.5 million farmers out of which over 10 million farmers have redeemed their inputs in 2014.