THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE THREATENS TO SHUT DOWN FERTILIZER PLANT

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has threatened to shut down any fertiliser plant that makes their product unaccessible to local farmerswhile exporting the same commodities.


The minister made this decision following  allegations that one of the two big urea plants in the country is producing for export while selling to Nigerian farmers at a very  high rate, making affordability and accessibility very difficult.

The minister disclosed this  in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on media, Dr. Kayode Oyeleye. He said: “Two urea plants are big enough to run the Nigerian demands. We know their capacities. But where there are allegations that some people are exporting instead of putting in the Nigerian market, and prices shot to N10,000 per bag of urea, we became extremely angry with them. Thank God now, many of them have started producing and putting into the market. The price is already dropping.”
Ogbeh cited  that the Nigerian market is of utmost priority ahead of export, “we are warning against the future. There can’t be any priority but the Nigerian market. If there is a surplus, they are free to export. But, unless and until there is a surplus, we can’t sit by and watch people selling fertiliser beyond the shores of Nigeria when the local farmers have nothing to buy. And we are saying the same to others. The priority is the Nigerian market.”
According to the minister, “there is a good market. There is no reason to side-track this market and go and create difficulties for farmers, because there is hunger in the land and government is taking the blame. And we are giving every support we can to people who want to manufacture locally; and we will always give. So, we need absolute cooperation from all of them.”
The minister explained that the affected firm has apologized and promised to make the commodity available for local farmers. He quipped that fertilisers are in circulation now.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

HOW TO PRODUCE BIO FERTILISER USING RABBIT URINE

HEALTH AND MEDICINAL BENEFITS OF GARLIC

AMAZING FACTS ABOUT MAIZE