N26b fund: FCT dry season farmers lament exclusion

But the FCT Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) Coordinator, Alhaji Ovurevu Isa Ademoh, maintained that there was no cause for alarm.Daily Trust gathered that the N26 billion dry season farming fund announced by President Goodluck Jonathan during the recent Agricultural Festival (AGRIFEST) in Abuja, will be targeted at the core northern states with comparative advantage […]

But the FCT Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) Coordinator, Alhaji Ovurevu Isa Ademoh, maintained that there was no cause for alarm.
Daily Trust gathered that the N26 billion dry season farming fund announced by President Goodluck Jonathan during the recent Agricultural Festival (AGRIFEST) in Abuja, will be targeted at the core northern states with comparative advantage in dry season farming to get effective results.
Reacting to the development recently in Abuja, the FCT GES coordinator told our reporter that it was not only the farmers from the FCT that were excluded, adding that the development will not impact negatively on dry season farming in the territory.
Farmers were already very busy carrying out their normal farming activities in the FCT, he said.
“If you go to Gada Biyu and other places in the FCT where dry season farming is practised, you will see the dry season farmers at work.
“Even if they don’t get the GES farm inputs, they will still produce as usual,” he added.
He noted that dry season farming has contributed a lot to food production in the FCT and other parts of the country, urging the farmers who have not registered for the GES programme to do so in order to benefit from subsidised farm inputs.
The coordinator pointed out that what Nigerian farmers needed are farm inputs, credit and extension services, which should be made available to them on time to boost their farms.
One of the dry season farmers, Malam Abubakar Mahmud, told our reporter that the exclusion will affect him greatly as he has to buy fertiliser and other inputs directly from the open market at higher prices.
He said: “I don’t know why they are doing this to us. They start something now, before you know it, they will disappoint you. We need the farm inputs to survive.”
Another farmer, Salisu Maikudi, said his hope was dashed when he learnt that FCT and some other states were excluded, adding that he will not farm, he will be affected due to farm inputs constraint.