GES programme under threat, farmers, others allege…It’s not true, says FG

Investigations revealed that agriculture sector budget in 2015 was slashed from about N35 billion to a paltry sum of N5 billion as a result of dwindling oil revenue. The country’s budget which has been passed by the National Assembly is, however, awaiting President Jonathan’s assent. Findings also showed that huge debts owed about 17 farm […]

Investigations revealed that agriculture sector budget in 2015 was slashed from about N35 billion to a paltry sum of N5 billion as a result of dwindling oil revenue.
The country’s budget which has been passed by the National Assembly is, however, awaiting President Jonathan’s assent.
Findings also showed that huge debts owed about 17 farm inputs suppliers, who supplied fertilisers and seeds to about 2,500 agro-dealers for onward delivery to the farmers in 2014, were yet to be paid, over 200 days of executing the contract.
In a recent advertorial sponsored by the Farm Inputs Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FISAN), the body said most of their members were groaning over the unpaid debts, adding that the development was capable of crippling the GES programme.
“The spiral effect of this will be the effect on wet season planting (which is just around the corner) and will ultimately lead to low output in food production with other attendant factors,” the advertorial read in part.
The dual challenge of budget cut and huge debts, analysts and other stakeholders maintained, was likely to put the incoming government in a tight corner with regards to funding and continuity of the GES programme if alternative sources of funds were not made available.
But the federal government has said that the implementation of the programme would not be affected, despite the lean budget and other challenges faced by the programme.
The federal government has since disclosed that about 14 million farmers have been registered and more will be registered across the country for the GES programme.
However, many of the farmers already benefitting from the 2 bags of fertiliser and a bag of certified seeds through mobile phones and those yet to benefit from the programme, expressed doubt if the government can sustain the programme.
A vegetable farmer, Mrs. Roseline Etuk, said: “It’s a good programme, but I don’t think it can be sustained if enough money is not provided by the government. It may become a burden and be abandoned by the new government if they can’t find the means of funding it.”
The President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Architect Kabiru Ibrahim, said that the agriculture sector and all agriculture projects and programmes, including the GES, needed adequate funding to be sustained.
He said: “Maputo declaration says every government signatory must dedicate 10% of its national budget to agriculture, but to me, that’s not enough. Nigerian government should dedicate 20% of its budget to agriculture to make it work.”
In his reaction, the director, farm inputs support services department of the federal ministry of agriculture, Mr. Osho Akinbolawa, allayed the fears of farmers and other stakeholders, saying that the GES programme was not under any threat.
Akinbolawa said: “I cannot talk about the budget because that’s under a different department, but even if the budget is slashed, the GES has come to stay. It’s a flagship programme of the federal government through which the farmers get inputs to boost production. So, no government can afford to throw away such programme.
“It’s a priority programme driven by the private sector. The input suppliers give the fertilisers and seeds to the agro-dealers who take them to the redemption centres for the farmers to redeem. And the government pays later after ascertaining the quantity supplied and number of farmers that redeemed their inputs. It’s like normal government contract where the government must pay the suppliers even if it delays.”  
He said the 2014 GES programme was monitored in two states (Kano and Zamfara) and the FCT by an external monitoring group made up of some farmers associations and some media outfits, adding that it was rated by 75% of the surveyed farmers as excellent.
Akinbolawa urged the incoming government to start from where the outgoing administration stopped, adding that areas in the GES programme that needed improvement should be looked into.