We Can No longer Buy Fertilizers, We Want The Days Of Buhari Back – Farmers Association President
The president of All Farmers Association, Kabir Ibrahim, has said Nigerian farmers can no longer afford fertilizers to apply on their farmers due to its high cost.
Kabir Ibrahim said under former president, Muhammadu Buhari, between 2017 and 2020, farmers were able to purchase fertilizer at cheap rates.
Ibrahim regretted that the US dollar to naira exchange was responsible for why farmers could not afford to get fertilizers.
In an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday, Ibrahim explained that the Presidential Farmers Initiative (PFI) of former President Buhari was beneficial to farmers, as it helped to make fertilizers cheap for farmers to afford.
“I think during the Buhari days, the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) was formed as a means to make fertilizer available.
“Between 2017 and 2020, we received fertilizer like Coca-Cola. It was all over the place. The price was good. It was the first ₦5,500. After the pandemic, a further subsidy of ₦500 was given and we were buying it at ₦5,000.
“But from 2021 to date, it’s been a problem. The farmers cannot afford it,” he said.
Ibrahim continued on the reason for the high cost of fertilizer, “Well, the value of our currency went down and most of these things are imported, the components that they mentioned.
“We had a pact with Morocco. We were getting them at a very reasonable price and of course they were giving discounts. I think our government appealed to them and then after that, we began to import from other places at the prevailing market rates.
“Then the blenders had to make up whatever money is expended. So it has been a bad situation from that to 2021 to date.”
He explained that flooding has also been affecting farmers. He advised the federal government to return the fertilizer subsidy. He stated that farmers should be able to buy fertilizers at cheap rates like in 2017 for the country to have cheap food.
“Then of course, there are mentions of the effects of climate change and all that. You know when you have flooding, it even washes away the little fertilizer that you are able to put in one place and all that.
“In fact, I was at this meeting, we told them that we want the restoration of what we enjoyed between 2017 and 2020. Let the subsidy be. They really go down to the end users. We want to be able to buy fertilizer all over Nigeria, like Coca-Cola, and it should be affordable to us.
“That way, the hues and cries from consumers will not be as much, because we have to recoup our investments. The fact is that the insecticides, herbicides, the inputs like fertilizers, even labor, we are now paying through our nose system,” Ibrahim said.
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