As the rain-fed season begins across some agro-ecological zones of the country, Daily Trust examines the preparations so far by stakeholders to make inputs – most importantly fertilizer and quality seeds – available to farmers.

The chairman, Agro Dealers Association of Nigeria, the major input supplier, Alhaji Kabiru Fara, said they have enough fertiliser on ground to serve 10 million farmers for the wet season

Mr Fara, who spoke with Daily Trust on Monday, stressed that they operate at two levels: in the open market where they do their normal sales business and at the subsidy market where government determined the number of farmers to get inputs.

On the first level, he said they have enough fertilizer under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) for farmers, in which they are registered members to buy and sell

He said: “The second level is that there is government programme called GES where government enlisted farmers nationwide to pay 50% of the cost and government gives us 50% later.

“For that, the preparation is still on and we are waiting to get the final notice from the Federal Government so that we can get ready for it because it involves distributing inputs to all 774 LGAs of the country. But for now we are operating our normal business in the open market.”

Speaking on the number farmers that may benefit from this year’s  Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme, he said government will decide on how many farmers it wants to cover.

Last season, only 500,000 farmers were captured for the dry season as against 2.5 million farmers. Government may capture maybe five or ten million, he added.

On seeds, Fara gave reason why improved seeds will be in short supply. He said government still owned seed companies which means many of them are unable to provide good seeds for the farmers, unless government subsidises it.

“Seed producers need to be encouraged by the government,” he added.

Chairman of the presidential fertilizer initiative Mr Thomas Etuh  last week said PFI will produce one million tonnes of 20:10:10 NPK for the 2018 rain-fed season.

Indorama Eleme Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited, a major producer of Urea fertiliser in the country has confirmed its plan to increase Urea fertiliser supply for Nigerian farmers need – 750,000MT – for the forthcoming farming season.

This is also in addition to the boost in the amount of Urea the company intends to supply to the Federal Government, from 180,000MT supplied last year to 360,000MT this year for the production of NPK (20:10:10) fertilisers

Coy provides farmers opportunities in cash crops

Madaki Agro Services Limited is one of the new agro companies redefining the Nigerian agribusiness space with a model that looks at both production, processing and farmers’ rewarding investment opportunities.

The company acquired 10,000 hectares of farm land in Ganjuwa LGA of Bauchi State for growing cash crops, which include soya beans, groundnuts, wheat, rice, sorghum, cowpeas, sesame seeds and maize.

During a media tour of the farms in Bauchi State over the weekend, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Akubo Adegbe, said their agribusiness model was to plant and harvest three cycles in a year – one rain-fed and two dry season cycles.

“Now, we are about to commence land preparation and clearing on 20,000 hectares for the planting of soya beans for the 2018 rainy season. We are looking for investors for 5,000 hectares out of the targeted hectarage,” he said.

The agro-allied company boss stated that the planting and harvesting cycles for the rain-fed season sets June/July for planting and October/November for harvest.

The first dry season planting starts December/January with March/April for harvest; planting for the second dry season begins February/March and the harvest is done in May/June.

Chairman of the company, Dr Muyi Aina, said they are also an anchor/aggregator of small-holder farmers under the Anchor Borrower programme principally designed to empower communities and create wealth for rural farmers.

Dr Aina stressed the investment opportunity in soya beans, adding that Nigeria is the second largest producer of soya beans in sub-Saharan Africa.

He however noted that “In 2016, the country only produced about 680,000MT of soya beans, though our annual consumption demand is 2.2 million MT (MMT).”