Agro dealers stop farm inputs supply over N38bn debt

you because we did this programme for the last wet season and it was not paid. We did for dry season; it also has not been paid. Honestly, it has put members of my association into serious financial difficulties and a lot of squabbles with the banks. I heard from the grapevine that he has […]

you because we did this programme for the last wet season and it was not paid. We did for dry season; it also has not been paid.
Honestly, it has put members of my association into serious financial difficulties and a lot of squabbles with the banks. I heard from the grapevine that he has our case before him, and I hope that very soon, he would release funds,” Bello stated.
According to him, the president has promised that immediately after verification he would flag off the 2015 inputs distribution after taking care of the arrears. “He even intends to go on with our activities as long as he is satisfied with what we did before.”
On how much the federal government owes farmers, Bello said, “I’m not sure, but we are expecting about N38 billion for all the inputs. We do hope it would be resolved as soon as possible.”
Speaking to Daily Trust, a director in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Damilola Eniaiyeju said the delay in the distribution of the 2015 subsidised inputs was because the country is transiting from one administration to another. He explained that this is so because the new administration would like to study certain things carefully before taking actions.
On the agro dealers’ debts, he said, “Part of the problems we have is transition. This made it impossible for us to sort out the agro dealers in terms of the money they put into last season‘s programmes. We don’t want to pile up more debts on anyone, particularly with the government still trying to study what they have and what they don’t have. 
“I hope you are also aware that the federal government is trying to help states pay salaries. So let’s not pile too much things on the government. I believe that when the president starts fully on his key programmes, including agriculture, we’ll go into this system and the agro dealers will come back.”
A cross section of farmers, who spoke with our reporter, were worried that the usual support for the wet season is not forthcoming, even as the season will soon end.
Adamu Garba, a crop farmer along Abuja-Keffi expressway, said that he expected fertilizer from the government, but it did  not come.
“I expected two subsidised bags from the government, but since it didn’t come, I had to buy one bag from the market in Keffi,” he said.
Danjuma Audu and his wife, Tabita, who are also crop farmers in Dutse-Alhaji, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said the federal government should not allow anything to affect farmers negatively as everybody needs farm produce to survive.