By Thompson Yamput
No fewer than 103, 200 bags of fertilizers have been freely distributed to 30,000 farmers in Kogi as support from the state government.
Mr Timothy Ojomah, Commissioner for Agriculture, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Thursday.
The commissioner said the 103, 200 bags were made of 51, 600 bags of Urea and 51,600 of NPK, which were distributed to three clusters of the senatorial districts of the state.
Ojomah said the state government had initially distributed 2, 000 hectares of land to farmers in the state, in preparation for the 2025 wet season farming for massive food production.
“We ensured that each cluster got 17, 200 bags of Urea and 17, 200 bags of Urea as support for their farming activities across the 21 Local Government Areas of the state.
“This products, valued N3.2 billion is part of Gov. Ahmed Ododo’s administration’s deliberate support effort to farmers for massive food production and security in Kogi.
“The governor is aware of how costly fertilizers are in the markets and decided to support our farmers this season for bumper harvest.”
Ojomah said the beneficiaries were carefully selected through an enumeration and verification process, conducted in 2024 to determine genuine farmers through their respective commodity associations or cooperatives.
According to him, the support to 30, 000 farmers was aimed at enhancing productivity of value chain crops like rice, maize, and cassava under the agricultural development agenda of the government.
He further disclosed that the state had invested in the training and retraining of farmers, along with the deployment of extension workers who are currently supporting farmers with technical guidance and monitoring fertilizer application across farming communities.
The commissioner tasked the beneficiaries on making judicious use of the fertilizers given to them to improve their farming businesses and better the living standards of their families and residents of Kogi. NAN
