By Akinwale Kasali
Few days after President Muhammadu Buhari approved N4.6 Billion to Katsina State Government for Ranching, the Federal Government has announced its plan to disburse a total of N12.3 Billion to some two million farmers spread across the country.
Following this development, Agbekoya Solidarity Forum, ASF, a coalition of Farmers in the South West has called on the President Buhari administration to include South West farmers in the scheme.
The Federal Government had said that the first batch of farmers will receive N6.15 Billion, while the second batch will be paid the balance of close to N5 Billion.
The FG had anticipated that the funds will help in dealing with the growing scarcity of foodstuffs in many parts of the country.
It is, however, not clear how the government will address the challenge of insecurity faced by millions of farmers across the country and how the funds will guarantee the farmers are protected from bandits and terrorists.
President of Agbekoya Solidarity, Chief Kunle Oshodi, in a statement urged the Presidency to ensure farmers in the South West are not left out of the scheme.
“We are appealing to the Federal Government to ensure the South West benefits immensely from the funds. Our people have lost a lot of money in the past few years due to the state of insecurity in the country. We want to see a situation where priority will be given to farmers in the South West”, he said.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Andrew Kwasari, said that the Nigerian Inter-Bank-Settlement System has validated the first batch of beneficiaries.
In his words, “The President has approved subsidies for 1.2million farmers in Batch A and the NIBSS has validated their bank accounts and BVN for farmers”, Kwasai said.
