The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GES

  • Why we suspended Jonathan’s scheme – Ogbeh

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Monday explained why the Federal Government suspended the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) initiated by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

    Ogbeh said the ministry was confronted with N67 billion debt claims from input suppliers involved in the GES scheme when the current administration took over in 2015.

    The minister stated this at the Seed Connect Conference and Exhibition organised by the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) in Abuja.

    He said the ministry has commenced plans to replace the scheme with a new initiative -Agricultural Input and Mechanization Services (AIMS).

    He said: “When we assumed office we were confronted with the debt to the tune of N67 billion. We could not pay this because if we had paid we would not have been able to pay staff salaries. But AIMS would correct all the anomalies of GES and remove fraud practices.

    The minister said the GES program was cancelled due to paucity of funds.

     

     

  • Group urges FG to pay agric support programme debt arrears

    Group urges FG to pay agric support programme debt arrears

    The federal government and the ministry of agriculture have been urged to pay all the outstanding debts owed previous participants of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES)  program in order to have all hands on deck for the full participation and actualization of government policy on high food production and agricultural diversification.

    The GES programme  is an off-shot of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda that encourages firms to supply fertilizers and seeds to about 2500 agro dealers for onward delivery to the farmers, while government pays  after ascertaining the quantities  supplied and the number of farmers that redeemed their input.

    Nigeria Renascent Group, a proactive pressure group, in a release in Lagos stated  that with the prevailing situation in the country, vis-à-vis government action to agriculture, famine is imminent in the country  if the government does not  act fast by ensuring that all important agricultural stake-holder are brought into the project of creating food for all.

    It therefore urged the government to pay all the debts owed previous participants of the GES program for this to materialize.

    In the release signed by Mr.Abdulrasaq Lawal, the group stated that  ‘’the zest at which participants engaged in the GES program, which saw many farmers smile and employment figure rising has diminished.”

    “The reason is not far-fetched. Many of who participated actively and whole heartedly have since stopped because they cannot continue, owing to the huge debt of over N47 billion naira owed them by the federal government. While the few others who are participating now are doing so with measured involvement to avoid inactivity”

    The group wants the government to “get all stakeholders on board by first settling the outstanding debts owed to them, this will serve as an impetus and will make them enthusiastic and give them the zeal to go all the way in seeing to the success of government diversification to agriculture policy.

  • Fed Govt urged to review GES to boost farmers’ productivity

    Dry season farmers in Sokoto  State on Tuesday called on the Federal Government to review the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme to boost farmers’ productivity.

    The scheme, introduced by former President Goodluck Jonathan, relied on the use of mobile phone lines for the distribution of fertiliser, improved seeds and other farm inputs to farmers in the country.

    Under the scheme, agro-dealers were engaged for the distribution of the inputs across the country, while about 10 million GSM lines were registered for the scheme.

    A cross section of the farmers in the state said the scheme was the best ever used in the sale of the inputs at subsidised rate to farmers.

    A farmer at Takakume, Goronyo Local Government Area, Alhaji Ibrahim Adamu, said farmers received text messages directing them to collect the inputs at the nearest distribution point.

    “Registered farmers under the scheme are being allocated three bags of NPK and Urea fertilizer each, improved rice and maize seeds and chemicals at the cost of N9,000,’’ he said.

    Adamu said he was engaged in dry season farming for two decades, adding that a review of the scheme would go a long way to improve crop yield. He stressed the need to encourage more Nigerians to engage in farming activities.

    Another farmer at Falaliya village, Goronyo, Alhaji Hussaini Salisu, called on the government to provide more agricultural support services to farmers. “We are also appealing to the Federal Government to come to our aid by addressing the problem of perennial flooding at the falaliya old irrigation scheme,’’ he added.

    Salisu lamented that the area was renowned for the production of rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, water melon, garlic, sweet and hot pepper, among others.

    Malam Aliyu Chika of Yar-Rimawa fadama, Sokoto, however, called for the construction of more access roads in the fadama users’ areas of the state.

  • Uganda to adopt Nigeria’s GES policy

     Following the innovation of the Growth Enhancement Support, GES, in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, Uganda has expressed interest to adopt the policy for her agricultural sector.

    Ugandan Minister of State for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Ruth Nankabirwa said this in Abuja when she led an 11-man delegation to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

    The minister said the team was in Nigeria on an under-study mission on the workings and operations of the GES in other to boost food production in Uganda.

    Nankabirwa said: “We are hopeful that with the adoption of the Growth Enhancement and Support (GES) we will be able to control the quality of feeds. The little we have learnt before we came here have reached the beneficiaries, who are the farmers to the suppliers of inputs. And also it will help the distribution of farm implements.”

    The minister also said the government in Uganda produce seeds through research for smallholder farmers, while the private sector does the distribution.

    “Seeds production is done by the government through research, while the distribution is done by the private sector. We majorly practise subsistence system of agriculture, but we have policies on commercialisation and mechanisation of agriculture. We have also come here to understudy the e-wallet system. So we are on the right path to commercialise agriculture,” Nankabirwa stated.

  • GES’ll boost fish production, says UAC boss

    The Federal Government’s aquaculture Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) can allieviate food shortages and increase fish production, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of UAC Nigeria Plc, Mr Larry Ettah, has said

    He said though the scheme is commendable, the government should put in place policy incentives to boost local production of fish feed.

    He spoke at the endorsement ceremony of Grand Cereal’s ‘Vital fish feed’ by the Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN) in Lagos.

    Ettah said investment in aquaculture, if well harnessed, has the potential to reduce the fish supply deficit estimated at 1.9 million metric tonnes per year, which makes the country spends N125 billion per year on fish importation.

    He said: “This potential cannot and will not be realised without a strong and vibrant local fish feed industry,which Vital fish feed wants to address, as the imported fish feed brands entering the country are not only expensive,lack freshness due to number of days spent on sea, but also a huge drain on the country’s scarce foreign exchange and a leakage in the aquaculture value chain.”

    Ettah, who was represented by the Director, Corporate Affairs, Mr G. Dada, said the endorsement by the association is a culmination of rigorous technical and laboratory analyses carried out by CAFAN on Vital Fish feed as well as the experential testimonies of fish farmers across the country.

    The National President, CAFAN, Chief Tayo Akingbolagun, said Grand Cereal limited’s Vital Fish feed, met the criteria of the association, as testing had been on since 2012, when the company approached it for the endorsement.

    He advocated more local fish feed company, saying the opportunities in the industry were enormous as the country’s fisheries resources is estimated at four million metric tons per year and if properly harnessed, is capable of meeting the local fish demand and generating surplus for export.

    Restating their level of preparedness to be the country’s leading local fish feed manufacturer, the Managing Director, Grand Cereals limited, Mr Layi Oyatoki, said the 3,000 metric tonne per year capacity fish feed plant set up in Jos, Plateau State in 2007, has grown to 30,000 metric tonnes per annum as a result of investments.

    Oyatoki said: “The endorsement will not make the company complacent but more determined to grow the fisheries industry as the dream is to see a day when there will be no need to import a single bag of fish feed into the country”.Grand Cereal is a subsidiary of UAC Nigeria Plc.”

  • Lawmakers seek passage of Agric Support Bill

    Lawmakers seek passage of Agric Support Bill

    The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, Mohammed Moguno, and his Senate counterpart, Emmanuel Bwacha, have called for the quick passage of the bill on Federal Government’s Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme.

    The lawmakers said it was important for the project to surpass the present administration and avoid policy somersaults.

    They spoke yesterday in Abuja at the launch of the Dry Season Farm Support Programme.

    Moguno said the sector was capable of creating jobs and reducing insecurity.

    The GES is an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It ensures that farm input is distributed to registered farmers at subsidised rates.

    The programme is targeted at increasing the harvest of local farmers to ensure food sufficiency.

    Moguno said: “As a parliament with responsible and responsive people, we have decided to introduce a bill for the GES to surpass the present administration. As we all know, policy somersault is a major challenge in our country.”

    Bwacha described the project as successful, adding that the GES broke the literacy barrier in the North.

    He said: “For the first time, agriculture is occupying a centre space. Even when the oil well in Delta, Port Harcourt is finished, agriculture will be able to stand.”

    The Minister of Agriculture Dr Akinwumi Adesina said about 10 million farmers had received input through the GES scheme.

    On dry season farming, Adesina said the ministry began farming last December.

    The President’s N14 billion financial commitment, he said, would boost the country’s self-sufficiency in food production.

    The Federal Government got about 1.1 million metric tonnes of rice paddy through the N9 billion intervention from the President for last year’s dry season farming. But larger produce, especially from rice, is expected in this year’s dry season farm support programme.

    Adesina expressed optimism on the potential of Nigeria’s agricultural sector to make great impact, adding that the nation would move from being a food import dependent nation.

    Speaking on fish imports, he said the nation is abundant in water such as ocean, seas and rivers. The minister added that the federal government had commenced supports for fish farmers.

    He stated that benefitted farmers got 5,000 free fingerlings.

    “We are providing nets to our farmers free of charge. I will not allow people to dump fish here because my job is to create job here and not for other countries.”

     

     

     

    “But I believe over the next three years we are going to continue to reduce the level of our fish imports by 25 percent every year.”

    He emphasised need for fish importers to commence local production of the commodity so the country could feed itself, rather than depending on food import.

    On the 2014 budget, Adesina said the ministry did not solely rely on government for its funding. He said within the past two years, the ministry had secured about $4 billion worth private sector investments into the country which are also being implemented.

    But, he affirmed increase in budgetary allocation was important to further take care of interest of the Nigerian farmers.

    “We are registering more farmers. As Mr. President had called for more irrigation and shown supports for stabilising prices, government will continue to do more. We are driving agriculture as a business activity, not as a development programme.

    “Banks are lending, private sectors are coming in and I know as you can see that N14billion is in addition of what we will continue to get for the dry season farming,” Adesina added.