You can’t stop subsidy on agric, Erisco boss tells FG

Following report of planned removal of subsidy from fertilizer to farmers, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Erisco Foods Limited, Chief Eric Umeofia, has cautioned against the plan. He said government around the world even in the United States subsidizes fertilizers for farmers, saying the Nigerian government should not be an exception. At a […]

Following report of planned removal of subsidy from fertilizer to farmers, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Erisco Foods Limited, Chief Eric Umeofia, has cautioned against the plan.
He said government around the world even in the United States subsidizes fertilizers for farmers, saying the Nigerian government should not be an exception.
At a press conference over the weekend, Umeofia advised that what the government could do is to address the corruption in the fertilizers’ subsidy scheme rather than outright removal.
“I support subsidy removal on petroleum but you cannot remove subsidy from fertilizer or agriculture. It is unfortunate that the subsidy regime is riddled with corruption but government can tackle the corruption but they cannot stop the subsidy,” he said.
Umeofia, who spoke on the raging scarcity of fresh tomatoes in the market blamed the crisis on the disease called tuta absoluta which killed most of the fresh tomatoes before they matured. He said the disease only comes during climate change. He promised that his company would address the problem if given the required support.
He reiterated his call for the ban on importation of tomato paste into the country, saying local manufacturers have the capacity to meet the country’s demands.
“We have a lot of arable lands that are lying fallow and we can grow a lot of tomatoes yet we don’t want to grow,” he added.