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Dandume Farmers Appeal to State Government to Investigate Fertilizer Scandal

Katsina City News
12 Jul, 2024
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Farmers in Mahuta ward of Dandume Local Government Area of Katsina State have appealed to the state government to investigate the alleged diversion of fertilizer procured by the state government which was meant for the ward.

Farmers from the ward made the plea in separate interviews with Radio Nigeria, as similar complaints have been made by farmers in Kankara, Musawa and other local government areas.

The Katsina State Government had distributed 350,000 bags of assorted fertiliser to its 34 Local Government Areas where each of the 6,652 polling units in the state got 45 bags.

The fertilizers would be sold to farmers at 35 percent subsidy where a 50kg bag of Urea which sells at N39,000 at the open market would be sold at N25,000 while a 50kg bag of NPK fertilizer which goes for N45,000 at the market will also be sold at N25,000.

However, farmers from Dandume ward have accused the officials in charge of the distribution and sale of the commodity at the Local Government and ward level, of diverting and selling it to fertilizer dealers and middle men, and replacing it with substandard or mixed products.

The farmers who mostly spoke on condition of anonymity, threatened to reject the substandard fertilizer sold to them in place of the ones procured by the state government.

"The persons entrusted with selling the NPK and Urea fertilizer distributed by the state government have diverted it, the have replaced it with substandard fertilizers mixed with soil and other unhealthy chemicals.

"We fear that if we apply it on our farms, it would harm our crops or stunt their growth, and we have already paid the officials N26,000 for the fertlizer", one of the farmers said.

While attempts to reach officials in charge of the fertilizer distribution have proved abortive, the farmers have urged the Katsina State government to investigate the matter to guard against further diversion of the commodity.

Cov/Intv/Phone/I.A