Some agriculturalists have cautioned the Federal Government against the ban on importation of fertilizer, saying the action will impact negatively on farmers’ productivity.
According to them, the nation’s fertiliser sector is not ripe yet for such a ban and warned that there may be dire consequences for such action.
The CBN, through a circular by Ahmed Umar, Director, Trade & Exchange Department, said that effective December 7, fertiliser was included as one of the imported goods and services not valid for foreign exchange.
The apex bank said that fertiliser was included in the listed items to promote the activities of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) established in 2016.
But Prof. Simon Irtwange, President, Yam Farmers, Processors, and Marketers Association of Nigeria, said that farmers’ access, a high cost of fertiliser and availability of NPK and other brands still remain a huge challenge for farmers in the country.
“The challenge we have with most of these policies is that they come ahead of things that we ought to have been done in the first place.
“During a seminar organised by our association in November in Benue, one of the high-ranking traditional rulers said, no farmer in his domain has seen a single bag of NPK fertiliser that was meant to be sold to farmers at a reduced price.
“We would have expected that the government allows fertilizer to be saturated in the market and more affordable before making such policy because the fact is that fertiliser supply chain is still facing many challenges,” he said.
Dr Toyin Ijawoye, an agriculturist, warned that if necessary steps were not taken to address some of the challenges with the fertiliser availability, farmers may experience the worst with the ban.
Also, Prince Wale Oyekoya, former Chairman, Agriculture and Allied Group of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said that feedback from farmers showed that NPK fertilisers were purchased above the N5, 000 stipulated by the government.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that prices of most brands of fertiliser range from N6, 000 to N7, 000, and that government should beam searchlights on fertiliser production and supply chain.
He also urged the government to encourage more local content in fertiliser production, saying that tonnes of waste generated across the country could be converted into organic fertiliser.
Similarly, Mr Babajide Ishola, Manager, ATSO Farm, said that some of the policies could backfire as the country had not ensured that structures put in place were running smoothly before the restrictions.
He, however, commended the government for encouraging local production, saying that companies like Notore, Wacot and Indorama had helped fertiliser production and completion of Dangote Refinery would further boost local production.
But the Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) welcome the policy of the government to restrict fertiliser import into the country.
Mr Gideon Negedu, the Liaison Manager of the association in an interview with Daily Trust in Abuja, said Nigeria had more than enough local capacity to blend any NPK, stressing that it will be unwise for the country to keep bringing in the finished product.
“Now, where we as an association has no problem with an open market, we recognise that the blending industry is still a very young industry that cannot compete with imported fertilizer, so we have to ask and push that look let us give a ban that will help the industry to grow, that way we will attract local investment,” he said.
