TheCable

The federal government will put fertiliser on the market for less than N6,000 per bag, Audu Ogbeh, minister of agriculture and rural development, has said.

Ogbeh reportedly gave the assurance when he appeared on News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that Nigeria and Morocco have signed an agreement for Morocco to supply fertiliser to Nigeria.

“We’ve just signed an agreement with Morocco, the President and a few of us went to Morocco and had a good agreement for phosphate imports.”

Morocco has the largest deposit of phosphate in the world, he said.

“The fertiliser we are getting from Morocco, we will put fertiliser on the market now for less than N6,000.

“But we are also insisting that there will be blenders in every part of the country so that the cost of transportation doesn’t compromise the integrity of this programme.

At N6,000, he said, the farmers were not complaining because they were now making quite some money.

The government, he said, was going to embark on providing extension offices in every local government area, a new scheme that would ensure effective distribution of fertiliser and provision of agriculture education.

“The offices would be depot for inputs and also an office for scientists who help the farmer when the farmer has problems.”

The minister, however, assured the farmers of early distribution of fertilisers, particularly for those who would engage in this year’s dry season farming.