ABUJA – The Federal Government has approved the introduction of Urea Super Granules (USG) fertilisers as one of the agro-inputs to be distributed under the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme.
This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday by Mrs Feyikemi Adurogbanga, the Communications Coordinator, International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC).
According to the statement, the USG fertilisers will first be distributed in Kano, Kebbi, Jigawa, Niger and Sokoto states as the pilot stage before moving to other area, when successful.
“The USG fertiliser is a component of the Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology introduced in Nigeria by IFDC but currently being promoted by USAID.
“The UDP technology is a one-time application of urea (briquettes) 5-7cm deep into the soil in between four transplanted rice stands.
“This technology which is mainly practiced under irrigated system, enables farmers to minimize production costs, use less quantity of fertiliser, increase yield and reduce run-off and volatilisation rate of urea,” it added.
It stated also that the Federal Government was seeking to partner with USAID to increase awareness and develop a robust market demand for the UDP technology among smallholder farmers.
“Since the inception of the project in 2012, about 200,000 farmers have been trained on the UDP technology.
“This partnership will lead to farmers’ training from USAID-MARKETS II project in the various redemption centres across the five states,” it stated. [eap_ad_1] The statement quoted Mr Akinbolawa Osho, the Director, Federal Fertiliser Department, Ministry of Agriculture, as saying that the introduction of the input into the GES would increase the robustness of the scheme.
According to him, it will help develop a new input supply chain that will create jobs for various actors.
“The project aims to deliver about 12,000 tonnes of USG to over 300,000 recipient farmers at a 50 per cent subsidy rate from both the Federal and state government.
“Each farmer will receive 40kg of USG fertilisers, in addition to two 50kg bags of NPK and improved seeds during the upcoming dry season GES at an approved subsidy rate,’’ he said. (NAN)[eap_ad_4]